Mailbag: Kristaps Porzingis plan, Boston Celtics next steps, Al Horford legacy

Mailbag: Kristaps Porzingis plan, Boston Celtics next steps, Al Horford legacy

let’s open up the mailbag the Chris thops porzingis plan who leaves when this thing is about over and a historical Celtics team with a Twist right now on the lock on Celtics podcast Blockbuster Brad it’s holiday season drop Drew in the mix and three from KP no we not on the knck flushing competition like Al on yanis juic and big de still be Town’s finest b a r going up in the rafs watching SE game in 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 we started raising bsiness how we finish locked on Celtics P win hey there welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the lockdown podcast Network where it’s your team every day and I got you covered Monday through Friday with a free fresh podcast dropping directly to your tce when you subscribe it’s Monday through Friday through July it’s Monday Wednesday Friday but doesn’t have to be could be a Tuesday or a Thursday on top of that depending on how August goes so maybe some extra with Team USA who knows so subscribe anyway because it’s more podcasting than you’re G to find anywhere else I’m John corales used to play a long time ago now I’m a beat R covering the Celtics for Boston Sports journal’ also written the book built different which you can find all across New England in bookstores and places like Walgreens and DJs and Sam’s Club and also online so go check that out it’s a mailbag day that’s brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply that’s for last minute tickets later on the historical Celtics a couple different twists on that we’ll talk about some of the chances for Celtics summer Leaguers Alor Legacy but let’s just start with the christop porzingis plan questions from Dean and Owen Dean asks who do you think will step up to fill in for porzingis minutes also could we see Tatum start at the five when Al’s not playing Owen says is this the season of Tatum at the five he’s our best rebounder so it’s gonna be a mix of everything right we’re seeing namish kada step up a little bit here in summer league he’ll we’ve seen him have success at the NBA level when when p has been hurt he’ll get a chance obviously Luke cornette is going to probably be the number one option get a bunch of those minutes he had a slow start to last season but picked it up and was was really good over the course of the regular season so he’ll be important they they will use Tatum at the five for sure that’s G to be a thing but I think the you know they brought back Xavier Tillman switchability if they want to go a little bit smaller they could put tman and Tatum out there and that be uh part of the kind of making up some of those those minutes Tillman can sort of be the five they they both will play down low in those situations Horford will obviously start but he’s not going to start back-to-backs and whenever that schedule comes out we’ll look at the November December back-to-backs because that’s going to be important the second night of those back-to-backs who’s going to start it’ll probably be corn but depending on the matchups katum might get a shot Tilman might get a shot Tatum definitely I think will get some opportunities at the five against fives that are not going to be like overly taxing on him you still have to be careful about Tatum in certain situations because he’s had a very busy summer and you you I don’t think you want to push him too hard early on right you he’s young he’s durable and it makes perfect sense at the same time don’t go too crazy with it because I don’t want to tempt fate I don’t want to push that that injury boundary too far but it’s GNA be a mix of everybody as porzingis ramps up and gets back next Tai asks uh you know the championship window for this team is going to be small I want to get your thoughts on who you think should be the the first Domino to fall in the starting five when that time comes will it be porzingis what do you think the probability is of the Celtics retaining at least the Jays and Vincent asks how willing do you think the owners will be to keep the core six if we repeat next season so two kind of questions here starting with Vincent they’re going to run it back again for one more season I think if the Celtics repeat then that’ll mean a lot of money’s come in a title run is lucrative for the team winning because players are paid for the regular season the contracts that they get are regular season contracts this the the postseason is bonuses that I believe are paid by the league so uh postseason gate uh all the money that they come that comes in during a deep postseason run that goes to the owners and the owners kind of use can use some of that to pay the tax bill the you know whatever else comes up so a second Championship run yeah run it back one more time let’s see if you can do it one more time that will be the most expensive team in NBA history so I think it’s just one run but then after that I don’t think it’s just porzingis it could be holiday as well in fact I think holiday is the most likely first Domino uh just because he’s older and the Celtics it it might be easier to find a defensive-minded guy that can give you some of that it’s kind of hard to replace porzingis so you kind of want to keep him as long as you can he’s he’s still in his 20s so if you can keep keep him keep the Unicorn try to keep him healthy it’s it’s a a big drop off from holiday to the next guy but it’s it’s easier to find a six3 guard who can defend and hit some shots and if you take a a a mug like this big thing of water here and it’s just water how much of this can you fill with talent to replace porzingis how much of this can you fill with tent to replace holiday I’ll give you the little ice sound effect on the on the audio so you can hear it so I’m not just playing to the YouTube crowd this is like a 32 ounce cup by the way of the 32 ounces you could probably fill 20 to let’s say 25 of talent to replace holiday how much can you f of that to replace porzingis half if you’re lucky 16 can you get to 16 of what poor zingis does that’s difficult so because of the position that he plays and the skill that he has so specifically answering Vincent one more year and then things start to go and then to specifically answer Tai I think the first one is going to be uh holiday porzingis probably next depending because he doesn’t have a long shelf life considering the injury history and the probability of retaining at least the Jays they’re under contract so unless one of them asks for a trade I think they’re going to try to keep those guys as long as they can not saying asking for a trade is out of the question because who knows what’s going to happen in two years three years that’s don’t know at some point the writing will be on the wall at some point there may have to be one of those guys that goes maybe if there if there’s a a particular player in a draft and the Celtics want to position themselves for a deep set of drafts then maybe both of those guys go may maybe there’s a a hard reset but that’s not till five six years from now the these guys are in their mid 20s but as as they turn 30 and they have a few years left of highlevel depending on where the Celtics are that could be where you get the maximum trade value and those guys do end up moveing on I expect them to move on at some point like I don’t want to make I don’t want to spend too much time now talking about that but that’s the reality it’s just shouldn’t happen now should have for a few years because the Celtics have a championship window that’s open right now at least for next year and the year after that and then from there you trust Brad Stevens to work his magic Al Horford’s Legacy let’s talk about that when we come back Today’s Show is brought to you by game time I know I’m gonna try to my way to some 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and his legacy Zack asks if Horford plays next season and does another year contract like you’ve talked about being a possibility he’d be one season shy of matching his time with Atlanta he had better statistical season with the Hawks but more success with Boston how will he be ultimately remembered well excuse me he’ll be it it it depends I think he’s one of those rare guys I think you can remember him as both people will tend to always remember a a player for his most recent team uh but you know kg will always be remembered in Minnesota and that’s different story it was a little bit he was he was in Boston less time than he was in Minnesota Horford in Atlanta did play like half his career there and and did have some success and those teams were kind of surprisingly good I I I think I think people will remember those days but Championship a championship season in Boston maybe two championship Seasons That’s that I think where most of the people will remember in and but because he was so good as a hawk I do I do think that that’s going to be a big part of his story and so I don’t think it’ll be forgotten but winning a championship supersedes everything so it’ll be Boston first Atlanta second but Atlanta will be a big part of of that and that brings me to Bronson’s question about is there any bad blood between Al and Paul Pierce I remember the 2008 playoff series between Boston in Atlanta when Pierce and him got into it I’ve never seen them in photos or mention each other well only time I’ve actually heard I can think of where Al mentioned Paul Pierce is saying that he bet Paul Pierce $110,000 that because Pierce said they’re gonna sweep and Al Horford said I’ll bet you 10 grand that you don’t and they didn’t uh obviously that went seven games and Pierce never paid up I wouldn’t say there’s bad blood but Pierce and and Horford definitely got into it that whole gang sign thing if people remember Pierce was Flash some hand gestures at I think it was at Al Horford like that was part of this whole thing uh so that was a that was a dumb controversy but yeah I do think that there might be some history between those guys that makes you say maybe they’re not the best of friends I don’t know if it’s bad blood per se but it’s not exactly let’s let meet up for dinner and talk about old times Andrew asks will the Celtics Wings get rested enough this season to give any of the summer league 3 andd Guys a chance to crack the rotation this is a good question because the short turnaround and frankly a lot of the celebrating that’s happening over the summer you wonder how that’s going to impact guys and uh Jaylen Brown talked about it at Summer League where he said the uh the the snub from Team USA is is giving him some motivation he’s already talk to some of the guys about when they’re getting back in the gym it it it’s going to be interesting to see how much that fuels him and and how how ready these guys are going to be right away day one this is going to be a challenge so I think and this is going to be a challenge by the way for Joe moula because you can’t just come in and give those guys 37 38 minutes right away a little bit of a shorter turnaround got to rely on your depth gotta maybe manage the minutes a little bit differently I’d be very curious to see how Joe does that will the ring the the wings get rested enough they should and that should open up some opportunities I don’t know how much it’s gonna be Jaden Springer or Jordan Walsh or any of those guys Baylor shyan I wouldn’t call him a three and D guy necessarily but he’s got the three-part down Springer might have a chance Springer might have a chance to get some uh get some run because he’s NBA level Defender highlevel Defender and if his jumper really is kind of where it needs to be then they can trust him to put to you know trust him to hit some shots you can put him out there you know he’s gonna defend and if he’s gonna score a couple couple of buckets for you then that will be helpful so I guess the way to phrase that question it’s or answer that question is with a question will any of the summer 3 and D guys be good enough from three to allow the Celtics Wings to get Ed ear this season if they are if Springer if Walsh if you know shyan are good enough again shyan it’s it is the defense but Springer specifically especially if he’s good enough from three then that will allow Missoula to rest Tatum for a little bit longer you know when he comes out uh you you rest them a little bit longer maybe you don’t bring them back at the end of the first quarter maybe you rest them the whole you know through the first quarter you bring them out at like the six or seven starts the second quarter maybe that’s the way to do it but only if those guys prove that they’re ready let’s get an NBA question here which NBA questions are welcome by the way uh any question is welcome and you’ll find saved the third segment for some more fun questions any all these questions are are welcome by the way questions are submitted at John cares.com mailbag I keep forgetting to put that up john.com mailbag just like I keep forgetting to put the championship belt up there even though I went into this thing this season before this this podcast I said remember to put the belt up I get to talking and it’s I don’t have a producer anyway Jack says hey John how do you feel about kcp leaving the nuggets on a scale of one to 10 how much worse did they get hard to put the scale there but they it’s hard it depends on like Christian Brown they’re they’re kind of relying on him to fill some of that Gap if he does fill that Gap then it doesn’t hurt them as much but it definitely hurts them it’s not a 10 but it’s not a one so what’s that a five four it hurts because he’s a reliable three point shooter and he’s a good Defender and he’s somebody that you can trust to defend on the perimeter and with jic back there it’s you don’t want him covering for for too many guys defensively because he’s not able to do that as well and nickel and diming now with joic in his prime I think that’s a bad idea I just don’t like what the Nuggets did it might not hurt them joic might be good enough to make up the difference but I don’t think this is going to go well for Denver yoka good but it is a step back if Brown can step up and make up for that then great but that’s still a one one less depth piece like brown can step up but who steps up for him that’s that’s where I question what Denver is doing so that there’ll be a team to watch in in the preseason for sure uh in the regular in early regular season because if if you if you keep doing this then don’t know if if that’s exactly what joic is gonna be looking for from a team just something to keep an eye on all right we’ll get some more fun questions including historical questions a an alltime team with a strange twist not that strange but it’s a Twist and it’s next let’s get back to this mailbag let’s finish it off Johnny L says do you have any regrets hosting the book event for Kendrick Perkins now that he’s morphed into a Celtics hater would you still host the event if he called you today considering how dislike he is by fans perk is doing a bit he’s out there he says what he needs to say to make money he’s out there just putting on whatever show he’s putting on I have no regrets about hosting his book event um I enjoyed hosting his book event yes I would do it again because it still still was good for me um and good for me to you know get out there and perk is a you know a personality that people pay attention to and it was good I mean Bob Ryan was in the front row of that event Bob Bryan is one of the all-time greats when it comes to uh writing journalist in Boston and thankfully he paid me a nice compliment on Twitter at after the event so you better believe I would host that event again because I did something I was on a stage Bob Ryan was in the audience and he liked it so yeah yeah that means that’s one of one of my career highlights that Bob Bryan said I did a good job doing that that’s you I mean that’s like being a basketball player and Taps you on the shoulder he’s like good game son I’d be like oh my God and that was my reaction when Bob Ryan tweeted that I was like oh my God I was like this is this is a moment for me so yeah like of course Andrew F says last year the sou came out with the top 15 all time felt like 14 players were locks 15th was up for grabs uh I was eagerly anticipating a championship so we could add Tatum and have a clear 15 but then jayen wenton screwed things up so who gets kicked off uh so the 15 15 players which I was a voter on this uh for this thing that that came out a couple of seasons ago Ray Allen Larry Bird Bob Koozie Dave cins Kevin Garnett John havich Tommy Hinson Dennis Johnson Sam Jones Kevin mcale Robert Parish Paul Pierce Bill Russell Bill Sharman and JoJo white in alphabetical order if you’re going to add Tatum who I’m still you know I don’t like doing that mid career he’s the he will be there Jaylen will probably be there but not putting them there yet but who comes off the list first I I’m leaning towards charman who is there as a nod to the 1950s and I’m gonna mention charman again in a in a minute here with the last questions last question of the mailbag but I think of those names charman might be the first just because in 1950 there were like eight teams or something it was not it was not a a the best league in the world at that point although it probably was the best league in the world because the only league in the world really uh but it was not an integrated league and so some of the best players were playing in you know on Barn storing teams that weren’t part necessarily of a league uh the Harlem Globe Trotters were created for black players it’s become just a entertainment show now but it was back then the Harlem Globe ters would play NBA teams in exhibition games for black players that couldn’t play in the league uh just to kind of showcase their talents um so I’m leaning Chan just because of the era even though you want to make sure that guys of the past were honored but that’s what Koozie is there for um Sam Jones those guys uh next on that list pains me to say it might be Dennis Johnson just because of the longevity and he wasn’t around for all that long so those are the first two names that I would knock off and if you want to put Tatum and brown on there if you want to do it now you can do it now I like to wait till the end of careers just because um this is an all-time thing so let them play their careers out and they’ll they’ll make the team eventually finally a group of aliens has invaded and wants to play a game of basketball you have to pick an alltime Celtics team with this stipulation it’s eight players and you must select one Celtics player from each decade 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 20s 2000s 2010s 2020 starting five has to be a traditional lineup point guard shooting guard small forward power forward and Center three bench players are wild cards of your choosing so this is this is a tough question because once I pick somebody from an era from the 70s that eliminates all the other players that are in the 70s so do I pick someone who spans a a decade uh how do I how do I um how do I put this team together uh and let me see I forgot damn I want to give credit to the person who asked me this question um but I don’t I can’t find it I’m sorry I cut off the name and sorry uh but okay so my traditional starting five Center power forward small forward shooting guard point guard starting with the center because it’s obvious it’s Bill Russell that eliminates the 60s so Bob Koozie is not on this team Sam Jones is Not on this team that hurts me it hurts my feelings but I gotta pick Bill Russell at the SI as the 60s representative kg is my power forward because I pick Larry Bird as my small forward Larry Bird is my small forward represents the 80s so Parish DJ male my hero they’re all gone I can’t pick male because I got to pick bird as my small forward so now kg is my 2000s representative because I need a power forward that eliminates Paul Pierce from this team because I needed the the Paul Pierce of the 2000s I’m not going to go back into the 90s I wanted 2000s Paul Pierce these guys are uh you the player you pick is as they were during that decade so I’m not picking kg Prime kg I’m picking kg from the Celtics who was a defensive player of the year so Russell kg bird what a front line right so even though I’ve eliminated a lot of guys that’s a front line my shooting guard actually I’m gonna go to to point guard I’m gonna go to point guard because it’s JoJo white and he’s from the 70s the 70s eliminates H uh havich it eliminates Dave cowens from consideration so a lot of names I would put on an alltime Celtics team are out that leaves me with very little choices and why I couldn’t pick Paul Pierce for this team because I need a shooting guard I could have finagled Pierce as a shooting guard in there but I’m going Reggie Lewis 90s Reggie Lewis who people forget he was a problem Reggie Lewis as my starting shooting guard representing the 90s so now I’ve got 60s 70s 80s 90s and 2000s represented in my starting five again JoJo white Reggie Lewis Larry Bird Kevin Garnett Bill Russell I got three bench players I need somebody from the 50s from the 2010s and the 2020s the 50s I’ve mentioned them it’s Bill Sharman Bill Sharman had a hell of a career he he was multiple time first team all NBA he was the star of that era so he’s my 50s guy 2010 Easy Choice Isaiah Thomas who had had those those two seasons that he had for the Celtic that those were two of the best seasons in Celtics history think about that scoring punch Off the Bench and with all this defense that I’ve put out there it’s there’s so much defense on this team and still scoring bird can score kg can score Reggie Lewis could score JoJo white facilitating he could score and from the 2020s it’s Jason Tatum Tatum versatility gives you that rebounding um I picked him over Jaylen because of that versatility um still a good Defender but also a good facilitator and a really good rebounder and you can put him out there across three positions he could Sub in for bird he could Sub in for kg he could Sub in for Bill Russell he could Sub in for Reggie Lewis if he wanted to so that versatility brings Tatum so Tatum Isaiah bill Chan on the bench JoJo white Reggie Lewis Larry Bird Kevin Garnett and Bill Russell my one player from each decade with the traditional starting lineups that’s my team uh tell me what your team would be get into the the the comment section there thanks for the questions I appreciate that and uh would love it if you uh subscribed if you haven’t subscribed yet again section on YouTube subscribe on YouTube ring the bell share the podcast tell everybody and watching the lockon Celtics podcast here in the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day

We open up the mailbag to look at how the Celtics will cover for a recovering Kristaps Porzingis, including Jayson Tatum at the 5, and whether Porzingis or someone else will be the first domino to fall whenever the team does get too expensive. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal answers those questions as well as Al Horford’s legacy (and a beef with Paul Pierce?), chances that summer guys crack the rotation, an NBA question about the Denver Nuggets, and some historical Celtics questions. That includes a unique all-time team.

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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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