Tatum, Celtics are the talk of the town at All-Star weekend | Celtics Talk

Tatum, Celtics are the talk of the town at All-Star weekend | Celtics Talk

[Applause] At the a mo [Applause] round take that the Celtics Talk podcast is presented by 24 autogroup.com 11 locations across New England what’s up everybody welcome into the off day edition of the Celtics talk podcast maybe should call it the All-Star break edition of the Celtics Talk podcast I’m fresh off the plane

From Indiana where uh if you’re on the audio version you can’t see me holding up this beautiful pom pom hat uh I don’t know if it was like a nursing home or just a group of elderly ladies uh they knitted hats for everybody in Indiana and the media all got them when we

Showed up and we needed them because they got like a couple inches of snow and ice and uh made navigating around Indiana uh a little difficult the last 24 hours but uh I get out before all the fun starts I you know Jason Tatum coming in I’m going out a couple Superstars

Chris Cross and pass uh what was notable though to me was the buzz around the Celtics being in Indiana and uh it just felt like talking to agents team Personnel people around the league there’s just this curiosity about you know hey like Celtics should be there at

The end and uh there’s there’s a growing appreciation for what they done through the first 55 games of the Season you know a lot of talk about Tatum climbing that mvp ladder a lot of talk about the Celtics and and just the distance they put between rivals in the Eastern

Conference and how that bodess well for their quest to represent the East and uh just it all kind of boiled down to health and questions about whether this this core can can be upright when it matters but it it’s interesting that that the Celtics felt like you know such

A such a big topic out there eager to see with jayen in the dunk contest on Saturday night taking this on Saturday morning we’ll see how he does there and then we know Tatum likes the allstar stage and can further you know make a case for uh MVP consideration on that

Stage with all the great players around him eager to see just how much they can uh they can keep the conversation on the Celtic at Allstar Weekend the other big story line seemed to be you know everyone wondering why christops porzingis isn’t there and wondering why the best team in

The league didn’t get rewarded with another Allstar you know clearly we’ve had that conversation around here felt like they probably Celtic probably deserved another guy out there um but it’s Jaylen and Jason holding down the fort through the weekend I think most of those guys are like you know getting a

Getting a nice little eight day break break from the NBA grind and not having to do all the uh the the events that go along with Allstar week I’m probably okay probably not some of them Celtics have been to Indie enough this year to sort of take the temperature on where

The team is track down our old buddy Kendrick Perkins now poor perk he heard a lot from Celtics fans and I’m not going to say whether yall are right or wrong I get it perks had some pretty polarizing thoughts on the Celtics this season on Joe Missoula but uh he did

Sort of open up about you know liking the back and forth with Joe about you know what he thinks about this team and uh so I just thought it was interesting to see maybe per maybe we’re starting to pull perk back to uh to this side and uh he’s got some pretty lofty

Thoughts on Jason Tatum in the MVP where the Celtics might ultimately finish this year and uh and a whole lot more so let’s get right into it here’s my chat with Kendrick Perkins well here with my old buddy perk hey what up Chris we miss you I know man

You know what I’ve been I’ve been on the other side of town on the west coast it’s been hard to kind of get in but the Celtics doing great so tell me about that where where do you think the Celtics are I know we say the halfway

Point but it’s the two-thirds of the Season Mark are they the Championship favorites you know what they are the team that I have picked to come out of the Eastern Conference I want to see if pring’s body is going to hold up that’s my only concern with this Celtics for

The Long Haul but as of right now like when you talk about the depth at the wing position that could defend I don’t know any other team in the Eastern Conference could match that now there is a few teams in the west and I’m thinking Clippers Celtics finals right not you

Know a new type of La Vibe and kawhai lard Jason Tatum going in it I’m looking at a seven game series and I was slightly give the edge to the clippers but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Celtics won all right all right I’m being honest though you

Got them to the finals I can’t argue with that has porzingis exceeded your expectations in terms of what you thought he would bring to this team I mean we were talking before we jumped on here and you said you know there’s a chance that he should have been at the

Allstar game he should have been an Allstar this year and you know what he has proven me wrong thus far because I said I said look I want to see porzingis when he get to Boston with you know when he’s playing in games that matter right and when you’re playing for a

Championship it’s a different type of pressure than when you were playing for the Wizards and he’s been everything and more and I love how he’s been doing an excellent job of Versa being versatile versatile in his offensive package he’s picking it he’s mixing it up in the pick

And rolls whether he’s rolling for a live or popping for the three-point shot if he get a mismatch he’s going to that mid post area he’s posting up shooting a high fishing rate and he’s protecting the Bas and he’s playing with great joy so far I

Have to give him a eight plus a eight plus now I still want to see what he got to do in the postseason but so far he has been nothing short of amazing he leads the league and smiles like you can tell he’s excited to be here and be part

Of a like like if you go from playing for the Wizards to playing for arguably the greatest franchise in sports history a team with a a a City a state that has like so much remember Bia so much history wouldn’t you be happy I was happy to see you yeah where is Jason

Tatum rank on your MVP ballot oh I’m voting for Jason Tatum if the look if the season stopped today and this is my criteria the best player with the best record he’s doing that and by the best record by far by far and see people don’t realize the sacrificing that Tatum

Had to do right now he’s averaging what right around 27 points a game eight and a half rebounds that’s monster and he’s shooting what 55% or close to that and for as his two-point field goal percentage look if the Celtics finish with the number one seed overall the

Best record in the league which I believe they will Tatum is getting my vote and you got a vote right yeah I do I do and I’m very proud of it I’m saying that’s good news for Jason tat uh what have you thought of the job Joe Missoula

Has done you’ve been critical at moments but want I’m not trying to get you in too much trouble here no you’re not but you know you know the thing is I actually love Joe Missoula I love that he claps back at me that’s a great thing

But you know I think he has done an excellent job in far as just coaching right putting these guys in position to be successful I think defensively he got you know he got them clicking on all cylinders offensively they’re spreading the ball around is no is no one playing

The gender-free basketball you can see certain Knights Derek White it could be his night to go off it could be Tatum night to go off Jaylen Brown night like you could tell that the the the message in that locker room is about winning a championship and when you see that on

The floor that’s a reflection of the coach are the Bucks going to get it together your boy doc hell no because they don’t have the Personnel right like the most important position and I still stand by this in today’s game is the wing position although we we see with

Yish did last season last postseason win the NBA championship NBA Finals but jish don’t win the championship without Aaron Gordon you know what I mean and when you think look at teams around the league they the championship teams are teams that are trying to make a run at a

Championship they’re going to get a legit athletic win we saw that with the New York Knicks going to get OG noobi then the Pacers there I mean I’m not putting them in the contentions but they went got Pascal seak you need that that’s the most important position in

The league last thing is JB winning the dunk contest I’m pulling for him I’m pulling for they need star power but you know what I if he don’t I appreciate him for setting the tone setting the tone because we need more of this more of the

Stars to come out the all star and participate in the dunk contest I like this out of JB yeah I’m like I said I miss those even if he just give us something just cuz I don’t really want him to go crazy sure right but just the

Fact that he’s jumping off the porch is enough for himself anything you want to tell people back in Boston we miss you well I miss y’all too I love y’all Boston fans and look stop trolling me okay you know where my heart is at all

Right I love y’all it’s fun though it is fun all right my mentions have been a mess with the the video clips that have gone up so if you’ve uh already seen or heard part of part of perk talking up the Celtics and uh some Celtics fans are

Mad they don’t want him they don’t want him back on the uh the bandwagon but I can tell you perk was pretty genuine about how he felt about this team and you know minute he was he was wrong about porzingis his ability to stay healthy and impact winning and uh you

Know look Joe Joe muli even mentioned that he enjoys the little bit of the back and forth and finding motivation in random spots if uh perking his bird brain analogies and uh questioning the Celtics tactics and three-point shots versus post St all that stuff if he”s

Given the team just a little bit more fuel to get to uh the best record in basketball then so be it I mean I I am interested to see what happens tonight our friends over at fanatic sports book have the odds for the dunk contest and

Uh Jaylen Brown is actually the you know second I think he’s at plus 325 uh M mclung the defending champion and you know you know what you’re getting out of him he’s a great Dunk Contest dunker versus Jaylen who’s more of an in-game dunker uh I think

That Jaylen has a real opportunity here to put the spotlight back on Saturday night and for me maybe I’m just going to sound like a dinosaur here but for those of us who grew up watching the Dominique and Jordan and all the the great like Saturday night mattered it probably

Mattered more than the game it it probably still does I don’t know I don’t know how much people get up for watching a 198 to 197 game as you know Brad Stevens when he was coaching it would just kind of sit there and shrug his shoulders and but uh watching the stars

In the dunk contest watching the elite groups in the Three-Point Contest that that stuff mattered and that was that was the fun of Allstar Weekend I’m I’m left longing for you know two juggernauts the size of Jordan and Dominique to be battling it out now maybe we’ve exhausted every dunk he can

Do maybe there’s only so much creativity left in the world to to Sky 10 ft in the air and and and dunk a basketball but I do hope that having a little bit of star power in Jaylen Brown brings this thing back a little bit maybe it encourages

Other stars like hey you know look at that Jaylen got a Jaylen was in the spotlight that night I think the NBA would be well served to to have Jaylen hoisting that trophy at the end of the night but he’s going to have to prove he

Can he can be creative I think being able to bring out Jason Tatum and uh let him be a part of the spectacle certainly helps no offense to the the topen brothers or whoever MC mcclun can round up but when you have the Jays out there

Potentially tag team on a uh one of jaylen’s dunks could really set a tone and steal the night eager to see what he’s got drummed up you the other thing obviously is with Jaylen wearing number seven we’ve seen the dbrown tribute before but wonder if there’s uh if

There’s something there uh I don’t shoe deals being what they are I don’t know if if Jaylen can pump him up uh you know he’ll have to we we’ll see exactly how he maybe pays homage to those who came before him is there a Joe Green tribute I’m eager to see what

Creativeness Jaylen displays in this game I really hope that Saturday night has some Sizzle I do wish we had Sam Hower in the Three-Point Contest but you know uh he’s word on the street is he’s enjoying his time hiding away in the lakes of Wisconsin and uh you know doing some

Fish fries and getting off the grid like I said someone about to go to allar weekend even for a couple days I’m I’m eager I’m trading in my this this this podcast microphone for uh some flipflops almost immediately when we’re done this thing so I get where those guys are need

A breather and I’m not the one who has to run up and down the court every one of these 55 games so uh it’s a nice balance but let’s see let’s see if Jaylen can uh can defy the odds and put a little Sizzle back in Saturday Night

Fanatic sports book where you can earn up to 5% fan cash all right so how we feeling feeling good about this team going into the break 27 games Sprint to the Finish Line you know I think as we start looking ahead to this post Allstar break it’s

Weird it’s like two-thirds of the season it’s gone it’s just uh you just got to kind of navigate a cram schedule I think they have four backto backs left 27 games in 52 days or something like that um so it’s going to be a pretty frenetic

Pace you know you’re going to have to bring along porzingis and Horford to make sure they’re ready to go when the playoffs roll around we’ll start looking at seatings it is weird though like normally you’re kind of still looking in your rear view at this point but the SS

Have such a buffer on the Cales Nicks and the Bucks especially uh that there’s going to be an opportunity here the the best reference probabilities give them basically 100% chance just below just below leaving some margin for potential disaster for them to secure the one seed

Which puts you in a good spot now you’re kind of monitoring the play in tournament and looking to see who lands at that eighth seed starting to get ready for the postseason there’s still some other events along the way I’m eager to see Xavier Tillman and Jaden

Springer maybe uh I think tman obviously Tillman’s got the bigger role with having to rest Alan porzingis you know how good can they be how can they impact this team how can that depth help you navigate the uh those that final month and a half stretch two month stretch to

Get to April and be in the best position possible some of like the little things as good as this team has been this is admittedly nitpicking I’ve said it you know on probably every pod I it feels like we’re when when a team is this good and this far ahead it’s nitpicking and

Yet starters haven’t been as crisp and they’re not going to get too many opportunities of guys arresting over those final 27 to really kind of crank it up but I do think they need to tap in a little bit of that first first 20 game Mojo where they were just a beast on

Both ends I think the flip side of that is this team defensively when they’ve needed to Crank It Up have just been fantastic you know the offense was always going to be there it’s just too much talent not to be it was whether they could really tap in defensively and

At the end of games just it’s it’s differentiator who you attacking you know there’s no matchup for you Celtics are out there hunting at whatever match up they can find other teams are looking around going what’s the weak link porzingis the weak link tried and put

Him in a pick and roll but then he’s blocking everything at the rim and doing doing poring his things and everybody else has all defense potential you could to see how that shakes out too we’ll start talking a little bit about Awards in the second half of the year and

Whether the sells can factor into it it’s it’s almost jarring that the most slam dunk of awards is probably Brad Stevens in his quest but you know for executive of the year I don’t even know if Quest is the right word Brad just Brad just trying to put together a

Championship roster and that that award might find itself to him based on his bold moves this summer but will Joe climb and the coach of the year odds will Celtics factor into all defense they don’t I think Chris ABS porzingis was their their top guy for Defensive Player of the Year odds at

This point um Drew holiday has probably been the best and most impactful Defender overall um but that it it says something about the totality of talent and obviously you know the whole episode here we’ve sort of sented around and Tatum in the Quest for the MVP um it’s

It says a lot about the talent that they’re all kind of intertwined right Celtics are so good that Tatum gets a little bit diminished and you know but the Celtics are so good overall that no one really jumps to the Forefront of of some of these Awards you get to see how

Exactly it comes down and uh and if anybody gets some Hardware but we all know what the main goal is here self’s got got their eyes on Banner 18 and uh the final Sprint should be pretty fun everybody needs to catch their breath over these next few days

Got some fun stuff planned for you as we start coming out of the break I uh did a little exploring during my time in Indiana we I don’t know I don’t know that’s not a great tease I mean I didn’t I’ll say this wasn’t Larry Bird related but

Uh we’ve got some fun stuff planned for later in the week probably Wednesday Thursday area coming out of the break uh that I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I did getting to do it while we were out there uh but yeah enjoy Allstar Weekend catch your breath let’s get this thing

Started back up on Thursday night against the Bulls big match ups on to right like Saturday night in New York you come home you got Luca dones and the and the Mavericks visiting on Friday night then SS go out on that big Ro Road last road trip not not last road trip

But big big the big difficult road trip remaining on the schedule uh with stops in Denver and Phoenix it’s going to get fascinating a lot of story lines are going to start to emerge a lot of a lot of more eyeballs are going to be on what’s going on in

The NBA over these last couple weeks and uh can’t wait to do it all also can’t wait to get on a plane and go someplace warmer so uh I need everybody to go like subscribe check us out on the YouTube page keep an eye on the YouTube page as

We start to emerge from the break we’ll catch you next time on the Celtic Talk Podcast

Chris Forsberg discusses what the rest of the NBA had to say about the Celtics at All-Star weekend. Kendrick Perkins joins to share his thoughts on the Celtics’ title chances, the impact of Porzingis, and why Jayson Tatum is his vote for MVP.

4:00-Kendrick Perkins gives his NBA Finals prediction
5:00-Perk on the impact of Porzingis
6:30-Does Jayson Tatum deserve the MVP award?
7:30-Giving credit to Joe Mazzulla

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