Mailbag: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown roles moving forward, Boston Celtics vs. the world, and more

Mailbag: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown roles moving forward, Boston Celtics vs. the world, and more

it’s a mailbag Monday we got a lot of questions about the Jays the connection between Nar Garcia para and Marcus Smart and the Celtics versus the world it’s all right now on the lock down Celtics podcast the Blockbuster holiday season Dro Drew in the mix and three from KP no we not on the knck flushing competition like Al on Yannis juicing Big D still be Town’s finest been a r team going up in the raaps watching these Gam locked on after car on the breakdown clutch like a TI from D white on the breakdown John on the mic document and domination m p back B all SE Nation r j how started raising business how we finish locked on Celtics pod home of the winner hey there welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast right here in the lockdown podcast Network where it’s your team every day and I got you covered every Monday through Friday through July all August and September we’re going to drop to three days a week Monday Wednesday Friday or we’ll keep going with multiple four or five days a week if circumstances dictate maybe Team USA maybe something happens but we scale back in August and September just so you know August and September when it slows down and nothing’s happening I’m still giving you three podcasts a week so make sure you’re subscribe wherever you get your podcast watch a show on YouTube get into that comment section let me know what you think I’m John corales used to play a long time ago now I’m covering the world champion Boston Celtics for Boston Sports journal and I’m also the author of built different commemorative book celebrating that Championship run find it everywhere books are sold online locally you can find it in I’ve seen it in Walgreens it’s at BJs it’s at Sam’s Club it’s at bookstores it’s all over the place so check it out soon I will be offering signed copies on my website so make sure you uh get in there today’s a mailbag episode you can also go to my website to submit your mailbag questions John cares.com mailbag John cares.com mailbag submit your questions mailbags every Monday throughout the course of the uh offseason and maybe bonus mailbags depending on how many questions we get throughout you know the rest of the week just in case all right uh today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more as things have wound down and sports stops sportsing the way we want them to FanDuel is hooking up everybody with a boost or bonus daily that’s right something for everybody every day all summer long visit fanduel.com to get started like I said today’s a mailbag episode Celtics versus the world later on talk about Jordan Walsh talk about noar and smart first segment all about the Jays and their well let’s just start with it Jan uh we’ll start with Quinn Jaylen won Finals MVP instead of Jason Tatum do you think that in the future Brown will be the team’s best player what you know what I’m gonna read all the questions that I have here because it’s all interrelated Zach says uh between all of this everything that’s happened where does this put Jason Tatum’s status in the all-time greats is Tatum continued a trajectory uh is is his continued trajectory on Pace with Pierce or to surpass Pierce and then brickson says uh my opinion is for for the Celtics to take it to the next level Jason Jason should focus on becoming a facilitator and aim to become a consistent 25110 player while Brown should look to take on the role of leading scorer okay so there’s a lot here and I think the reason why I I got all of these questions out there at once they’re all kind of related and the answer to all of them is kind of intertwined so the strength of the Celtics is that there is no singular best player that needs to be the best player every night with this team the way they won the championship in fact I’ll relay a story I had a neighbor of mine uh we were talking about the team and he said to me I don’t really know basketball I don’t really watch a whole lot of it but I I watch the the NBA finals and this just looks like a team it looks like it looks like a bunch of guys that are willing to to move the ball and pass the ball and and and play Team Basketball that is a very I I loved that feedback because he I mean he knows who the guys are but he doesn’t watch and and like so this is a very unfiltered impression and I love having that kind of like 30,000 foot view of like you know what I don’t really know what’s supposed to be happening but I look at it and I just see everybody passing the ball and that that’s perfect that is perfect and that’s what the Celtics are that’s the strength of these Celtics and I think that’s the strength of NBA team team that are going to be champions in the future this is not a heliocentric this guy’s the best player this guy’s the second best player they won with Jaylen being the finals MVP in the Eastern Conference Finals MVP but Jason also had an argument Drew holiday also had an argument Derek White had a little bit of an argument from you know not entirely but he he had games where it was like that dude if it was like the NHL where they gave they give the playoffs MVP which suggestion by the way to the NBA how about a Finals MVP and a playoffs MVP instead of the Eastern Conference Finals MVP just do one for the whole playoffs because then you know Derek white might have had a a case there either way whether Jaylen is the best player player or Jason is the best player none of that stuff really matters not to me I don’t think it matters to the team I think these guys are about winning playing Team Basketball some nights it’s gonna be Jason 2511 triple double some nights it’s gonna be Jaylen 25 you know maybe he’ll have a triple double he’s not quite as much of a triple double threat as as Tatum is but even if it’s 25 seven and seven and Tatum Tatum is the 35o guy it doesn’t matter with these Celtics so I don’t want people to start ranking well Jason’s the best player but what if jaylen’s the best player what if they no that’s not that’s not what the Celtics need that’s not what the Celtics should be and that’s not what we should be looking for on the outside who’s the best player they’re all the best player and that’s how this team should be operating on any given night channeling Joe Missoula when he says success looks different every night success can look different on a night toight basis this is what he means this is what it’s about this is what the Celtics are this is their identity on on Monday could be Derek white as the best player on the floor on Wednesday it could be christops porzingis on Thursday it’ll be Jaylen and on Saturday it’s Jason and somewhere in in the next week Drew will have a turn Sam Hower will have a turn you know it it’s just anybody at any time and this is where the whatever it takes mentality that’s why they put whatever it takes on on the the T-shirt I think it was the game five giveaway t-shirt whatever it takes this is this is Joe missoula’s I think greatest success coaching this team is getting these guys to buy into the Mantra of whatever it takes and if you do whatever it takes then everybody eats everybody gets the shine and so does what’s Tatum’s status amongst the all-time greats well he’s still only 26 let him have five more years hopefully he plays out all five years of his extension with Boston let’s see what he does in those five years I think he can be looked at as you know you see Bill Russell and Larry Bird and hav as the kind of top three and the who’s number four is kind of Up For Debate maybe maybe Pierce is three maybe hav slips the four maybe Kevin mccale slips in there but Tatum can has a case for being top three but jayen has a case to you know if if he sticks around for the entirety of his contract where does Jaylen slot in there like there’s there are cases to be built and we’ll figure out where they land whenever they land right you don’t know how far they can go and as I’ve said before I’ve gotten to I’ve gotten myself into trouble trying to put Jaylen Brown in a box I’m not doing that anymore I don’t know where he’s gonna land in alltime Celtics lore let’s see how this goes over the next few years they’re going to have this season maybe the next season and three seasons from now the that third season from now you know shrug I don’t know who’s going to stick around who’s not if they both stick around then they both have a case for being one of the all-time greats and I’ll just leave it at that we can’t we can’t start and I know it’s a fun it’s a fun like barroom conversation to have but it’s to me I I would prefer not to judge the movie halfway through the movie because who knows who knows how the ending is going to impact things right now it’s pretty damn good movie for both these guys jaylen’s trajectory is much different than Jason’s but where they intersect if they intersect maybe they just meet somewhere and Rise together who knows who knows enjoy the fact that these guys are here that they can both be either the number one scorer on the on the night or the guy doing all of the little things just enjoy the fact that both of those guys can do it and if the Celtics are going to win it all again it’s because both those guys are doing everything let’s get into this connection between Nar and Marcus and Jordan Walsh and all that when we come back Today’s Show is brought to you by FanDuel we know that sports are slowing down a little bit over the summer but even though the sports aren’t what we would like them to be you know they’re not what they are at the end of the spring or the beginning of the fall when everything is in play it’s all right this summer FanDuel is hooking up everybody new customers existing customers everybody gets a boost or a bonus every day there’s something for everybody all day long so head on over to FanDuel start making the most out of your summer you can bet on anything you can bet on uh player props you can bet on uh just the straight money lines you can bet against the spread you can take advantage of the tools that they have so you can set your budgets so you can set your limits make sure that you are uh enjoying yourself over at fanduel.com and your Gam responsibly at FanDuel the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball thank you for making lockon Celtics your first listen every day go check out lock on sports today streaming 247 on YouTube on the Amazon Fire TV channels app it’s free it’s the best sports conver conversation uh around no fake arguments like you’ll see on major networks no contrived storylines just good sports takes over on lockdown sports today let’s get back to the mailbag here Emil says if you thought about the relation of the 2004 Red Sox trading Nar and going to the World Series in respect to the Celtics doing the same with Marcus Smart has this happened in other cities and other sports where a player drafted and believe was traded away for the team to win in the same year um look there play I I haven’t gone through every sport and to see if uh a longtime player being traded away has uh eventually led to a championship I I think it’s it’s interesting it’s two first of all two different circumstances because I believe Nar was traded midseason and that was yeah he was traded mity because he was sulking he that that was not going well and I think people have I’ve it’s not the first time I’ve seen this connection oh the Celtics traded Nar popular guy home you know Hometown guy and then they win Celtics do the same thing to Marcus and he and they win but things were going poorly with Nar and not only had the Red Sox had a bunch of disappointments Nar was kind of a Mal content he had an adversarial relation ship with the media he very famously put a line in front of his locker and said don’t step in front of that line don’t step over that line he was sulking in The Dugout uh being pulled from a game like he he was it was very obvious that the Celtics I mean the the Red Sox needed to trade Nar whereas the Celtics did not need to trade Marcus Smart other than they needed salary to match the uh christops porzingis contract so did they did they need to trade market smart no but trading Marcus did kind of change a little bit of the vibe and I think they needed a little less of the chaotic nature of Marcus’s game and they needed a little bit more of the um steady part of holiday’s game and holiday was just the more consistent shooter and that’s just for for what Joe was looking for it it did make sense so was it a need to trade Marcus no not not the same way they needed to trade Nar so I think the circumstances were different I think people are are making that connection wrongly and if you if you know if you remember that 2004 season and how things were going with Nar you’ll see it was a very different situation than Marcus who was still I think mostly in the good graces of the Celtics and this was this was a a difficult decision whereas trading Nar wasn’t a very difficult decision at that point James asks if Jordan Walsh gets pulled up to uh the big club for and what our summer league roster is well the this Jordan Walsh is already under a guaranteed contract so when just because he was in Maine he he wasn’t on a two-way deal he’s he’s on an actual guaranteed contract right he’s not uh so so he’s already technically a member of the Boston Celtics he’s not like Drew Peterson on a two-way deal uh he’s guaranteed and he’s potentially gonna earn a spot I mean I don’t know that he has uh any kind of guarantee to play uh it’s very possible that he can spend a majority of his season in Maine again uh but he he went home with I’m sure uh the homework as I like to put it add more muscle get that jump shot down uh be able to to handle some of the things defensively and and learn some of the things defensively and be able to process things quicker like all of that stuff any like any first second year player has to do and he’ll come in with an opportunity to crack the rotation no guarantees no nothing but it’s it’s not out of the question that he could be part of the rotation but I think it’s most likely considering the same starting five is coming back eventually uh that Sam Hower and pton Pritchard and Luke cornette and and uh um Xavier Tillman and those guys are going to have major roles Off the Bench there is an opportunity to have a another backup Wing a more defensive-minded backup Wing that can hit some shots that that’s that’s an opportunity for him for sure but I can’t say that there’s any sort of guarantee that he’s going to be uh a part of the Boston Celtics even though he is technically under contract from you know by the Boston Celtics CS but he could spend a majority of his season in Maine Michael asks now that the roster is almost entirely set what are your thoughts on this Center position to open the season so uh you know we know KP is gonna be out he said he asked do you think the Celtics should also tell Al not to hurry back think Al you don’t have to worry about Al he’s going to be in in great shape he’s gonna be ready to go no matter what so Al will be ready to play they’re not going to over tax him early on they’re not going to make it so uh they’re not going to be like oh well you got to play back to backs they’re not going to play him 35 minutes so what’s gonna happen is he’ll be ready to play he’ll be ready to start um he’s gonna take his break this summer he’s probably as I’m recording this on a beach somewhere chilling but also he is very meticulous about keeping himself ready so he will come back to training camp ready to go and but the Celtics will take it easy like there’re maybe 20 25 minutes to start so Tillman will have his time uh cornette will have his time they will go small Tatum will get some time at the five in small lineups they will neia kada will get some opportunity uh so however they decide to make that rotation it’s G to be a mix of guys Al will be ready the other guys will be ready neimi will have his opportunity this is gonna be a big opportunity for him I think he’s gonna spend this summer making some good strides Tillman coming back healthy we’ve talked about that and we’ll talk about him some more coming back on the other side of the break but that uh rotation I think is just going to be fluid everybody’s going to get a shot there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for everybody so I’m I’ve never I haven’t been worried about it all all summer long so far and so I I still am not really worried about that so let’s talk about more about Tillman and we’ll talk a little bit about Boston versus the world when we come back Today’s Show is brought to you by better help I’ve talked a lot about my therapy uh I’ve gone through uh a lot of talk therapy and it’s been very beneficial to me it’s helped me become I believe a better person and I think it can help you it can help anybody uh but I know that there are roadblocks that finding somebody is is tough 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it’s your first listen every day go check out lockdown NBA I’ll be there this Wednesday with Jake Madison of lockdown Pelicans but we got rotating hosts all week long talking about the biggest stories in the NBA so go check it out wherever you get your podcasts back to the questions here Patty says I heard you say Xavier Tillman is not the new Al Horford and I agree that said do you think the selts need Tillman to replace Al’s role switching and hitting threes in a year or two if they want to keep winning championships well the the year or two is really uh up for some debate so this year obviously they have a chance they’re favored the year after I still expect unless Al Horford is so like suddenly washed up that he’s going to say ah I’m done or the Celtics should be like no we’re done with you I expect Horford to come back on a year-to-year basis so I don’t think even though he’s under contract next year for like what is it nine nine nine nine and a half million 9.5 million I expect him to come back for the 2526 season at less than that so I think he might stick around for at least a couple of years after that yeah they’re gonna start needing somebody to replace him and they’re gonna have to start going with a high IQ they’re gonna have to find a high IQ big that can pass and move and defend and all of that stuff that’s going to be a priority I don’t know what that um what that means if if Tillman because he’s under contract for this year and next year two years from now he’s it’s it’s only a two-year deal is he gonna be the guy maybe he’s 25 we’ve talked about this multiple times on the show he’s coming off that knee soreness I think if he’s 100% healthy and he adds to his game and grows into you know into his Prime and figures out a jump shot then yeah he he could be a long-term answer because you have to understand like Al does a lot but at the same time Al doesn’t score a ton all the time and if somebody can give you I don’t know 60 to 70% of what Al Horford does that would be enough to to I think keep the Celtics in contention for what they need but obviously that also depends on who else is here because after two seasons porzingis is an unrestricted free agent and that that 2627 season if Al comes back for one year after his contract is over and then leaves then you have the potential for pingis Horford and Tillman all to be gone Luke cornette uh who knows what he’s going to be there’s going to be a lot of salary that goes away in that season and there might have to be another salary that goes away in Drew holiday uh most likely that you know so the Celtics can get away from that second apron and away from the financial restrictions so the short the short answer the too long didn’t read answer is somebody’s going to have to replace Al I don’t know if it’s Tillman but they that would be nice if he could be the guy Anthony says WJ said the Houston Rockets currently coached by Emy yoka have interest in trading for Kevin Durant at one point the Celtics then coached by eme udoka talked about trading Jaylen Brown for Kevin Durant is this a udoka thing or a happy coincidence I’m G to say it’s a happy coincidence the Celtics probably did not talk very significantly about trading for Kevin Durant I think that obviously worked out for the best um I’m not gonna say like of course Kevin Durant is an awesome basketball player and think most teams would want him but I don’t I’m not GNA say that eeme is driving some sort of whatever team I’m on we’ve got to get Kevin Durant and I don’t think eay was pushing for Kevin Durant and was overruled or anything like that so I think Durant happens to just be available and the rockets have the assets and udoka happens to be the coach and that’s just how it goes Peter says do you asks do you think the Celtics could win Olympic gold I feel like their balance of star power overall talent and team connectivity is better than the collection of all stars that Team USA will put out there to try to figure things out on the Fly it’s an interesting concept because it kind of goes into what makes these other teams as successful as they are uh and that’s continuity the Celtics have continuity Team USA does not they’re relying on talent and that’s one of the criticisms of Team USA and that’s why they’ve tried to get long-term commitments from these Stars so the guys are coming back at least have some sort of history of playing together now does that mean the Celtics continuity trumps the talent and trumps some of the talent on these other teams I I I don’t know that it does there are some very good teams out there you know um there are teams with you uh France is a a very good team um there are a lot of high quality teams with multiple NBA players on there could the Celtics on their own win a gold medal sure absolutely Tatum Brown holiday I mean you got two Olympians already on your team anyway Derek white was going to be on the team if Kawhi Leonard was uh unable to go so that would have been three Jaylen Brown uh has been a part of Team USA in the past um so so that’s four uh and Al Horford like that that’s that’s a that’s a pretty good team the international rules make make it a little bit more difficult and the talent the the Deep Talent on some of these other teams makes it not impossible for for somebody to beat the Celtics but if you’re asking the question do you think the Celtics team could win Olympic gold yeah they could they absolutely could and I think that’s true of any any NBA champion I but a collection of talent from these countries does not make that a guarantee I think any NBA champion could go out there and and win a gold medal I’m not saying they would I’m saying they could but they could also lose because these teams are some of these teams are really really good and full of NBA players themselves but this this Celtics team is it plays a style to your point Peter that I think works and if they just got used to the international rules I think they they they could easily they they could they could win a gold medal I would love to see that I would love to see that just so it we can get this world champion thing settled once and for all I don’t mind calling a team world champions because the Celtics are the best professional team in basketball um they are the world champions the professional world champions there’s no other professional team out there that can beat the Boston Celtics or any NBA champion I’m sorry the Euroleague Champions could not beat the Boston Celtics now if team France wants to take on the Celtics in an exhibition sure let’s do it but I think the the the term world champions absolutely qualifies as far as professional teams go not teams like Olympic teams or collections of talents from around a certain country because that’s a different team that’s not that’s something different um so yeah I don’t mind the world champion thing and I do think the Celtics could win gold all right that’s the that’s the podcast again if you want to submit a question it’s John coral.com mailbag if you want to buy a book you can go to Triumph books.com Celtics win or go to Amazon or wherever you get your podcast or get wherever you get your books and uh or in Boston they’re out in the wild you might find them in stores as you’re shopping so go check it out thank you for listening thank you for watching I appreciate you uh if you’re not subscribed please do so if you’re not in the comment section let me know what you’re thinking and if you haven’t shared the podcast yes yet please tell your friends tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the lockdown Celtics podcast here in the lockdown podcast Network it’s your team every day

Mailbag Monday brings us a few questions about Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and what their roles will be moving forward. John Karalis gets into that and why it doesn’t really matter. Also, why connecting the Nomar Garciaparra trade to the Marcus Smart trade is wrong, Jordan Walsh’s future role, Xavier Tillman replacing Al Horford, and the Celtics potential for winning an Olympic gold medal.

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