Brad Stevens UNLOADS: Celtics Roster Shakeup Coming After Playoff Reality Check

CCT-May11 === Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of Celtic Chalk Talk. My name is Steve Purciello, lifelong Celtic fan, back to the Bill Russell days, always been there. Before I begin, I just want to talk a little bit about the Peach Basket Network that you're listening to. We are a group of people, just basketball fans, and we make comments and we talk about it. And if you enjoy this podcast about the Celtics, there are other podcasts about different teams and different things in the NBA. Um, I really suggest that you go to thePeachBasket.net and take a look, and you might find some other stuff as good as this, if not better. Um, that's the, the thing, and that's the one thing we want to talk about. But now let's get to talking about the real subject, the Boston Celtics. Brad Stevens was able to have his little press conference this week, and it wasn't little. Uh, I said little, but boy, I'm mistaken. He, he unloaded, wasn't happy about the situation, and [00:01:00] talked that there had to be changes and they needed different personnel. I want to go through a couple things, not just about what Brad said about just, just the Celtics. Um, the Celtics, the regular season, it fooled us. Um, we thought they were better than what we thought. But you know what? And I thought about this during the Philadelphia series when Embiid was playing at full health. If you-- And, and Paul George was playing out of his mind, 55% from three, which I'm amazed about from Paul George. But if you think about the Celtics, that Philadelphia was the better team with those four guys. They were better than what Boston had to offer. Um, and, and they showed it, obviously, on the court. But that's something we didn't quite think. We thought the sum of the parts of the Celtics was better than what they were. Um, and, and I'm gonna talk about why was it f- we thinking, why were we thinking they were better? Well, let's think about the regular [00:02:00] season for the Celtics. In the regular season, coaching is a lot different than the playoffs. In the regular season, it's a lot of preparation for games, meaning it, you know, uh, a lot of game planning and putting it, uh, uh, situation, uh, putting in your game plan and, and playing. When you're playing in the regular season, sometimes you're p- playing against a team that played the night before, and they really didn't have a chance to get ready and, and vice versa, of course, where sometimes the Celtics weren't completely ready. But I believe the Celtics staff was outstanding at getting a game plan in. That's the regular season, and that's how you do it. Now, when you get to the playoffs, it changes because there are adjustments made spur of the moment. And when I talk about adjustments made, the first thing I think about, and I mentioned it last week, was how in game five, when Boston had them at halftime, Philly came back, and they [00:03:00] decided nobody can guard Embiid. They posted him, and Boston, all Boston did was get in foul trouble, and Embiid just continually scored. Um, the worst thing, the, the worst thing to watch in that was when Vukovic played 'cause Vukovic just backed up, and, uh, Embiid would turn around and just put the ball in the basket. Um, and it was really, uh, no opposition. So that was a major thing, and, and the adjustment by, by Nick Nurse was very good. Now, the Celtics should have come up with some adjustments in the next couple games about that, but they had nobody that can really handle Embiid, and that, we'll go to that in a few minutes. But the-- I think, um, Nurse did out-coach, uh, Mazzulla in the series. I think if Boston could have gotten it done in that fifth game, it would have been nice. But once they opened the door and Philadelphia became, began to become accustomed to each other, and Embiid, now with Embiid on the court, um, they, [00:04:00] they just got better and better, and that was a problem. Now, one of the-- a couple of the positives for this season was the development of Queta, Scheierman, Garza, Ugo, Walsh, um, Harper, and so on. But let's face it, those are role players. In the NBA, you need stars, and you need stars to play like stars. When we go back through the season, uh, Derrick White played like a star defensively, but offensively he was not as good as usual. Um, even Sam Hauser only shot 39.7, I believe, from three, which is lower than his, in his career, lowest in his career. So Boston didn't get the offense they were hoping from those people, um, White and, and, um, Hauser. They did get it from Jaylen Brown and, and Pritchard throughout the season. But, but when you talk about those, those other guys, the guys I talked about, the role players we'll call them, which is what they are, [00:05:00] they improved. They were been-- did a great job developing them, and they will help the Celtics in, in a couple ways. One way is naturally getting playing time. The other way would be if they were used in deals. I think Baylor Scheierman has more value now. I'm not gonna say he's very valuable, but teams would take him and n-not mind and be willing to give something back. And the fact that he is paid not a great deal makes him more valuable to other teams. I do think of the group, Ugo has got the best future. I've said that before. If he can shoot, he's a g-gonna going to be a very good basketball player, and I think this summer will tell us. We'll see how he looks in the summer league, but also into next year. We can't give up on somebody if they don't play well in the summer 'cause think about J-um, Jordan Walsh and what he did. But Ugo has the best potential of that group. Now, Neemias Queta, I [00:06:00] think is a good backup center and, and a decent center who can play 20 minutes a night, uh, with someone else playing. Um, and that other person we'll talk about in a minute. When we talk about Luka Garza, he improved beyond belief, but defensively, again, he doesn't give the Celtics a good option to go with against. Um, Jordan Walsh came out of nowhere. Is still a g- he's going to get better as a defensive player, and that's a great thing to think about because I think he, he will help Boston. Ed Harper just came from nowhere, had some great games, I'm thinking San Antonio, Oklahoma City, um, and showed something. But again, role players, role players. Um, what does Boston need? Well, let's see. Neemi is a good player in the way he's a good backup and, and can help a team. Now, and he's on a low contract this next year, and then he will be a free agent. [00:07:00] Boston maybe can-- if they can get him cheap, seven, eight million, nine million, why not as your backup center? Um, he's got a lot to learn about foul trouble and all. But a-as I said, and I went back and forth on this a little bit during the year, but as I said about Neemi, he's not bulky enough to match up with the scoring centers. You need somebody bulkier, especially like with Embiid, Embiid. They have to go out and become as physical as Embiid was with him. Neemi doesn't have that strength or physical ability to match up like that. And then he commits silly fouls with his screening and, and things like that, which just makes him in foul trouble and not usable as he was throughout the Philadelphia series. And those screening fouls are what hurts them. Um, my-- and I said it all year, they do need somebody, and then I went back and thought maybe Neemi could be the answer. I, I, I, I'm convinced he's not. He should be [00:08:00] Off the bench, backup center, and, and he'd be a good one, a real good one. I think if he unleashes offensively, he's got an offensive game, and he showed it at times during the season, and I think that could happen. Now, what is another thing I, I think the Celtics need? I think they need a quick guard. When I say a quick guard, it's a two-way thing. He needs to be able-- That guard has to get to the basket and be able to beat guys off the dribble. That's very important because Boston really doesn't beat people off the dribble that well. And that makes it harder, and you're relying more on a three because you're not getting some easy shots, easy layups. Brown or Tatum can get you layups, but they work hard to get there, and that's difficult. Um, and I think both Brown and Tatum, if they thought about it, they would be good in the mid-range game. I don't know if Boston wants to play that way. Tatum in the, in the post at the, a little bit [00:09:00] below the elbow is pretty good, getting the ball there and turning and shooting. Brown can also shoot mid-range. He's very good in the mid-range. He had a great year in the mid-range. Um, and, and that's off the dribble drive. But, but what happens with both of them is dribbling too much takes away everything offensively. The ball needs to move. Remember, the ball moves a hell of a lot quicker than the player. So those are things, um, that, that are very important. The team you're seeing, I, I don't believe, and Brad Stevens said it, um, I, they're not gonna be-- it's not gonna be the same team, uh, that you saw this year. There's gonna be some changes, and that's with Tatum. Um, I, I think, uh, Jaylen Brown is safe. Um, but I don't kn- I'm not gonna say definitely because I do think if all of a sudden the Giannis for Brown or things like that, or maybe Atlanta pipes up with something like Jalen Johnson and Mikal [00:10:00] Walker, um, and maybe Rui Hachimura for him, I think that might pique Boston's interest. So there, there's things that could, but I don't see that happening much in, in the league. Um, Derrick White might be the guy that's go- going to go. Let's face it again, Boston needs a real center. They need a real center. Derrick White, I believe, is 32. Derrick White will make 30 million. Derrick White didn't shoot well this year, played great defense, as I said before, but he didn't shoot well. And you know what? You know what? You try to, the old Branch Rickey thing, get rid of him a year before it's too late, and while the value's still high. His value's high, even though he shot poorly from the three. Um, he's only got two years left in his contract, and unless you figure at 34 he'll still be bringing it, you gotta move him. You gotta move him, and I think he'll be the one, and I think he's got value, and I think he'll be the one that'll go. Um [00:11:00] It's, it's, it's, it's really interesting. But Boston, and, and when you look at the overall situation for Boston, they're not far away from being back to a title contender. They do need another player or two. The changes have to come to get them to that point, and that's the thing that, that Brad Stevens talked about. And when you really break it down after that Philadelphia series, you realize they're not good enough to win it. That they should have beaten Philly, but that would have been it and, and probably better that they didn't have to play the Knicks and, and deal with what the Knicks are doing right now. Um, but that's it for this week. Um, again, we'll be back again. Um, please again to, to listen, to subscribe, and just to hear what we have to say if you're a Celtic fan. Thank you and take [00:12:00] care.