Boston Celtics running it back in free agency, plus mailbag questions

Boston Celtics running it back in free agency, plus mailbag questions

free agency has begun and the Celtics are running it all the way back this season plus we open up the mailbag christops poising his recovery bronny James it’s all right now on the lock on Celtics podcast think a blockbuster Brad it’s holiday season drop Drew in the mix and three from KP no we not on the Knick flushing competition like h on yanis juicing big de still be Town finest been a r going up in the rafter watching SE G and locked on after car on the breakdown clutch like a tip from D white on the breakdown John on the mic document and domination m p back B all SE Nation r j how we started raising B how we finish locked on Celtics home of the winners hey there welcome back to the locked on Celtics podcast right here in the lockdown podcast Network words it’s your team every day and I got you covered every single day Monday through Friday with a free fresh podcast that drops directly to your device so make sure you are subscribed get to the show on YouTube get to the comment section let me know what you’re thinking about the Celtics what the signings that they’ve made the signings other teams have made all of that stuff you on the YouTube page let me know I’m John corales used to play a long time ago now I’m covering the Celtics for Boston Sports Journal as a beat writer I’m also the author of built different a commemorative book documenting the Celtics run to a championship it’s a available right now at Triumph books.com Celtics win you can use the code Celtics 24 to get 25% off you can also find it at local bookstores around New England and local uh places uh of you know uh pharmacies supermarkets place like that anyway uh today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more as the playoffs uh have gone away sports stop sportsing the way they that we like them to so FanDuel is hooking everybody up with a boost or bonus every day so there’s something for everybody every day all summer long visit fanduel.com lockon to get started later on we’ll open up the mailbag we’ll get to bronny James later we’ll get to kp’s recovery Jordan Walsh and uh Joe moula developing rookies but let’s start with free agency free agency has begun there’s been I don’t want to say it’s a flurry of moves but the Celtics did what we expected them to do they brought back they’re bringing back basically everybody there are 12 players from the championship team under contract which is rare that never really happens to bring back that many players all your top basically 10 and you know Jordan Walsh is in that mix everybody’s back for the most part uh Luke cornette a one-year deal terms not announced but I assume it’s something along the lines I don’t know if it’s a minimum but it’s not probably not a lot we’ll see uh he’s coming back multi-year contract with nayes kada he’s coming back Sam Hower they picked up his team option he’s coming back so one of the things that we need to understand is the Celtics they’re running it back this year I don’t know what they’re going to do next next season that’s another conversation for a year from now and that’s going to be super interesting because the Celtics are going to be repeater and repeater taxpayers next season which means I did the math which is always dicey with me but no I did the math and a $50 million approximately $50 million tax bill that is what I expect them to be at this year depending on what what else they do that would be north of 90 million next year so it’s an additional 40 plus million or so just in taxes that’s just that’s not a money that goes to a player that’s money that goes to uh one of the non- taxpaying teams you know one of those teams that that’s under the cap and under the tax and they get a big chunk of money from teams like the Celtics so I think because of that that’s why they picked up Sam Houser’s option and and maybe they kick that can down the road maybe they maybe if you listened to the conversation with Keith Smith last last week and if you haven’t go listen to that because we lay out everything we might be in a scenario where they just say hey we’re gonna pick up the team option we’re gonna see where we are next season and we’ll we’ll figure it out and maybe that means this is Sam Houser’s last year in Boston and if that’s the case so be it things change and things are going to change in Boston eventually uh and that’s why they it’s a one-year deal for cornette and it’s a team option for Hower at this point and we’ll see if they if they negotiate a team-friendly deal after that but that’s why it is what it is and and I expect namay K’s deal to have Team options all over the place in that so there’s they’re they’re preparing for the possibility after this season of not tearing it apart but starting to dip below the tax or not below the tax necessarily but down to a point where it’s more palatable right because you’re not just going to keep spending spending spending spending spending and they want to get out from under the second apron and that’s that’s just going to be somewhat important so they don’t jeopardize their future like at some point I know it’s seven years away but seven years from now the Celtics are probably going to be in the midst of a rebuild maybe just coming out of a rebuild but somewhere along the way here a rebuild is is happening look seven years from now Tatum and brown are going to be in their early 30s they’re G to be like we’re g to start to see their games maybe decline in seven years like that’s going to be a point where the Celtics are going to have to start making decisions do you trade one of those guys are you at a point where it’s like they become the Pearson Garnett and you trade them and start getting assets and you start rebuilding and you go through that hard kind of quick pivot to the next version of this and I don’t know who’s going to be in the draft seven years from now but that’s something that you have to prepare for you just have to make sure that you’re not screwing yourselves over and if you’re bad and your your your draft pick still ends up down at 30 you’re really putting yourself behind the eight so all of this is to say that the part of the reason why this year this summer is what it is for Boston and why things are being structured this way is with an eye towards the future because you just have to make sure like you don’t have to worry about anything besides this year right I don’t have to worry about anything besides this year but Brad Stevens has to have a long-term view small short-term view medium-term view long-term View that’s all part of a GM’s job and I’m going to talk about the long-term view too because that impacts some of the short-term stuff and and as much as you don’t care it is part of the discussion so that’s what the Celtics did they short up the end of the bench uh to a degree there’s a couple of like OA brets probably gone sh mik is probably gone um they’re bringing in uh Baylor Baylor shyan who will hopefully compete for a roster spot and there’s two ways that they have to fill and all of that stuff so uh the Celtics are running it back the Celtics are running it all the way back we’ll have to watch the competition because Paul George is leaving the Clippers and we’ll talk about this when it happens uh if Paul George leaves the Clippers well he is leaving the clippers but if he goes to Philly and now you’re talking about Matt Maxi uh Paul George Joel embiid and they added Eric Gordon and they added Andre German uh that’s a team that’s if they if they do add Paul George you know that’s not nothing the the Knicks are trying to reload uh they look better uh the the Sixers are going to look better I don’t know what the Bucks are going to do but the the East is is trying to knock off the Celtics they’re they’re trying to load up and and knock the Celtics off so the the next couple days are going to be worth watching there’s going to be some interesting decisions uh kavus called well Pope to Orlando that makes Orlando better he’s a good Defender he’s a wing guy a versatile guy they’re tough they play the Celtics fairly well their their toughness is you know physicality is tough for Austin and or has been and you know he makes shots that that’s an interesting decision there for the the Nuggets to let him go and a good pickup for Orlando so things are starting to line up in the East where you know in a couple of weeks we’re gonna have to reassess this and say where where are the Celtics here like I mean look the Celtics are going to be the the favorites no matter what the question is how close do the other teams get how close are the Knicks really how close are the Sixers really how close are these other teams really that’s going to be the question and we’ll have to re-evaluate that whenever uh that comes around uh for people watching on YouTube I do have this belt graphic I swear I’m gonna I’m gonna get used to using it because the Celtics are the Champs I gotta make sure I use that graphic for people listening sorry there’s a graphic that I like and whenever there’s a championship belt involved I’m in so my birthday’s coming up I should put an Amazon wish list item out there for like a WWE Championship belt what that would be a hell of a move huh I can just go buy my own but I’d just go put a wish list out there all right let’s come back mailbag time I do a mailbag Monday every Monday now in the offseason uh abbreviated version because free agency took over part of it but it wasn’t enough to fill a whole podcast so mailbag coming up starting with Joe Missoula in developing rookies we talk about that next Today’s Show is brought to you by FanDuel Sports they’re they’re the best but summer Sports start to change NBA is gone hey we got we got the Olympics coming up that’s going to be fun we get you know NBA players playing basketball that’s GNA be great but you know hockey’s done major sports kind of they they wind down a little bit but FanDuel is hooking up 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check out lockon sport sports today streaming 24/7 on YouTube on the Amazon Fire TV channels app it’s all the big stories it’s all the big shows it’s all the big conversations without the fake debates so go check it out streaming all day every day put it on leave it on and get away from those big networks they’re just trying to trick you into watching anyway so go have some fun listening to lockdown sports today it’s better all right mailbag time mailbag questions come in at John caral r.com mailbag that’s John cares.com mailbag I always get tons of questions I’m sorry I can’t get to all of them uh but maybe as things start to slow down maybe I do multiple mailbags uh but yeah don.com mailbag to go submit your questions like Jonathan did who said one concern I have about this next season is whether Joe moula will focus at all on developing the draft picks in the lower end of the roster do you think that is at all part of his skill set I didn’t see it this year well let me just start to say started by saying Jonathan you saw him win a championship this year so who cares about him developing sh Mok and those guys that’s not that’s not what that’s about but I get the question about you want development but that’s what the assistant coaches are for and that’s what they are doing that’s what the G league is for that’s what that coaching staff is for there’s development for players that goes beyond what Joe moula is doing there’s an entire structure to develop these players so yeah Jordan Walsh those guys they’re going to get a lot of the same development at a different level but this is like this is like blaming a president for something that you know is at much lower levels of the government Joe missoula’s focus is on winning these basketball games and don’t sit there and think he’s not playing these guys therefore he’s not developing these guys that you can it’s not about just playing games I I it’s a very it is a very American thing for for people to say you got a play to develop where you look overseas and it’s practicing to develop and I think what Missoula does is he focuses on practice but when the team is good whenever a team is good you’re not going to see these guys play why why is a guy like Jordan Walsh GNA play during a season when they won 64 games it’s just not gonna that’s not what the focus is he played a ton in the g-league that’s where he should be playing and and that’s where the development happen so you don’t see it but it doesn’t mean it’s not happening Greg says um do you expect to see Jordan Walsh get more of a role in a team if a player like O’Shea brassette signs with somebody else I it depends um where Jordan is in his developments uh he’s certainly got a lot of homework he has to get stronger he has to play with a little bit more control um he just seems I I if if the volume is is max volume is at 10 he sometimes plays at like an 11 and a half which means it’s just little too loud you just bring it down to like you know a 10 you know or or like an eight and be able to turn it up to a 10 sometimes like it’s just about playing under control a little bit more getting that jump shot down and developing into at the very least a three and D player a legit three and D player which maybe he’ll be more than that maybe he won’t be that but that’s at least at least the goal uh so he has to spend a lot of time working on his jumper and if he can come into camp with I know it’s it’s going to be over over the summer it’s going to be muscle watch for him uh but if if he’s able to add you know 10 pounds of muscle or whatever it is or how two pounds of muscle will look significant on Jordan wall she’s a skinny kid but that’s okay there a lot of kids are skinny at that age like 19 18 years old it’s it’s a skinny time I believe it or not I was skinny at 19 too not anymore but once upon a time that’s what that’s what being 19 is all about uh but he defin definitely needs to add some muscle so we can like be a better Defender but the how much how the muscle is ated all of that stuff we’ll see and if he can come back this summer with noticeable Improvement then he has a chance if not it’ll be another year uh developing in the G league and you go from there but that’s that’s what he needs to do so I can’t say for sure that he’s going to get a role now he does have an opportunity but it’s more about uh the kind of development that he has over the summer Paulo says with shyan being guaranteed presumably Watson on a two-way cornette back Tillman may be back how about bringing javante green on a minimum contract uh I’m going to guess that javante is Gonna Want More playing time than what the Celtics can offer but if he is available on a minimum contract you know you could definitely do worse he is friends with J Jason Tatum and we we’d love it I’d love it I think Boston would love it um it’s it’s if he’s willing to accept the role here then and that means probably not playing all the time but some of the time he’d be he’d be like the new O’Shea brassette uh so I’m gonna guess that javante is gonna want other opportunities better opportunities but if he’s around and wants to sign with Boston I’m all in on that NJ says it’s reported that kristos porzingis underwent successful surgery now he mentions NJ mentions that Doc Rivers said it took Damen Lillard a while to get back on you know back into shape do you expect porzingis to experience something uh having similarly no off season well look let’s a couple of things number one Doc Rivers is making excuses so let’s not give doc the you know too much uh Credence like he’s he’s making excuses for a lot of things so that that’s number one uh is is porzingis going to experience something similar maybe but I think what the Celtics are doing when they announce that five to six month timeline I think the recovery from the surgery is probably three months and the ramp up is going to take another couple of months the getting him through rehab strengthening getting him like we’ll see him probably like three months uh is what July August September so that’s the end of September right he he just had it at the end of June one month is July August is two September is three which means October at the end of October training camp is four I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him shooting doing some drills much like his recovery over you know from the calf stream and then from there we’ll see like oh they’re going to be like yeah okay yeah he’s out here shooting it’s training camp it’s the beginning of the Season maybe he’s going to travel with us maybe not I would expect not for that because it’s not the playoffs just keep him back in Boston and let him keep rehabbing but regardless I would expect him to be ramping up and slowly building to the return so even though it’s going to be October where we see him start to shoot and start to get out there and start to move and we’re going to be like oh he he doesn’t look too bad he’s not limping he’s blah blah blah blah blah but it’s going to take extra time for him to strengthen get his cardio get his comfort level do some scrimmaging and all that stuff so I think that’s why they they’re their the timeline is what it is and so I don’t expect the same kind of troubles whatever troubles Damian Lillard had all let’s come back we we’ll get some uh some fun talk about championship rings talk about the theme song we’ll talk about bronny James it’s all coming up next all right let’s get back into the mailbag here Todd asks with all this talk about bronny James agent telling the rest of the league not to draft him uh why wouldn’t the Celtics appear to show interest so the Lakers would have to trade up a few spots uh why didn’t they uh the Celtics could have acquired future draft Capital this is a very popular Theory it’s Bill Simmons was pushing this a lot of people were pushing this the bottom line is I don’t think NBA teams value Brony as an NBA Talent like if it wasn’t the Lakers in Lebron I don’t know that he would have been drafted but it was important for them for LeBron to have that moment and look what happened LeBron said I’m gonna opt out and he’s open to taking significantly less so the Lakers can try to bring in Klay Thompson who is leaving the Golden State Warriors and if they can bring in Klay Thompson in a sign in trade and LeBron takes a significant pay cut in order to add add a Klay Thompson to that team well then drafting Brony was really worth it wasn’t it but he doesn’t have that same value on the Celtics it doesn’t the Celtics can draft him and the Lakers will be like we’re we’re not trading for him like we or or they they could try but like at some point there’s like they’re not going to give up a ton to get LeBron like LeBron they could just go to LeBron and be like look man we we were going to take him but Boston took him you know we have to go a different direction and that’s going to be it so I don’t think the Celtics or any other team wanted to get stuck like it wasn’t just the Celtics that had an opportunity all those other picks in the for in the second round the picks in the 40s somethings in the 50s before before Boston any of those teams could have taken bronny and been like hey La why don’t you trade for him nobody wanted him like nobody wanted to take that no one wanted to mess with the no one just no one wanted to bother because if the Lakers said all right fine sorry no we’re not we’re not trading for him we’re we’re not you can have them and if they that’s a that’s a Wast of draft pick that would be the waste of a draft pick Roy asks do you think the Celtics would give Lamar and Delano championship rings so Lamar Stevens Delano Banton do you think they’re going to get championship rings I I think so I think you have to get permission from the league to give rings to players who didn’t finish the season um which is never really an issue they were part of the team for a long time they were there through the trade deadline I’m sure they’re they’re gonna get something so um I would expect them to to get rings I think anybody that’s been on the team for especially for a significant amount of time would would get would get a ring so yeah I I think I think both of those guys are are in line and I think both of the those guys deserve it they were part of the team like those end bench guys they they still have value they they have to be in practices and practice against the main guys like they you you still need those guys to go push your main guys and and they they are as much part of the team as anybody and have developed relationships on on that on that team and so they worked hard and yeah they deserve rings and I think they’ll get them and finally Peter asks with Banner 18 when will you have a competition for a new theme song any requests for Vibes or references uh I think I’m just G to get be ever ready to do a new version because he just did the one that we we recently unveiled we’re I think we’re gonna have to rework it and I think there’s going to be a new style of open that’s shorter so it’s going to change a little bit of the produ production value so it’s going to change what he says and it’s going to be a very quick it’s going to be a very quick verse it’s probably not even really much of a verse but we’ll we’ll figure it out B ever ready is really good he’s worked with us a bunch he’s working on this now actually and at some point here maybe over the summer uh some point we’ll hopefully by the beginning of the Season we’ll have it all worked out so yes there will be some new theme music somehow we will do it and have it ready and it’s just you know a good problem to have a nice challenge for for be ever ready again if you want to submit your questions for a mailbag it’s John coral.com mailbag submit your questions I will try every Monday to get yeah what I get probably like nine 10 questions in uh I definitely get more than nine or 10 questions questions in uh in the mailbag so I apologize if I don’t get to all of them I try to include questions that are uh indicative of multiple questions so multip multiple people have asked questions similar to what I’ve I’ve used so make sure you’re you know get them in and I’ll try my best to to get them on there uh thank you so much for everybody for listening thank you for watching and I would love it now if you share the podcast once you subscribed get in there and now tell everybody else that they should be doing the same thing and that they should be listening to and watching the lockon Celtics podcast right here in the lockdown podcast Network it’s your team every day

The Celtics opened free agency by bringing back Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet, and Neemias Queta, meaning 12 of Boston’s championship players are back for next season. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal discusses that and then opens the mailbag to talk about Joe Mazzulla developing young talent, Jordan Walsh’s future, Kristaps Porzingis’ recovery, Bronny James, and more.

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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