The Celtics Blow It Up and More Predraft Story Lines | The Bill Simmons Podcast

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Chris Mannix to discuss the Celtics trading away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis early in the offseason. Then, they talk about the Atlanta Hawks’ future, Achilles injuries, and the Kevin Durant trade. Finally, they discuss Sam Presti, Jake Paul vs. Julio César Chávez Jr., and more.

Host: Bill Simmons
Guest: Chris Mannix
Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo

0:00 Intro
0:25 Celtics trade Jrue Holiday and Krista’s Porzingis
7:50 State Farm Ad Break
8:20 Celtics trade Jrue Holiday and Krista’s Porzingis Continued
27:37 Uber Eats Ad Break
28:10 Hawks’ Future, Achilles injuries and the KD trade
01:01:21 Sam Presti and Boxing

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[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] all right it’s been a while chris Manx is here we’re taping this a little after 4:30 Pacific time in the afternoon was kind of waiting for stuff to happen today we had the Drew Holiday trade last night and then Chris Habs Porzingis sent to Atlanta today chris Manx the 2024 Celtics funeral is here um they lpped off miraculously $28 million in two trades they got under the second apron which doesn’t just save them almost 200 million in luxury tax but also has all these other positive roster benefits there still might be another trade because I think both of us feel like there might be a Samer something um they want to bring back Luke Cornet they want to potentially bring back Al Horford so there’s some other stuff happening but did you think it was going to be this simple for the Celtics to cut that much money when you have to take contracts back in trades and somehow Simon’s $5 million less than uh than Drew Holiday and then Niang is 22 million less than Porzingis this was a borderline miracle i I thought they made some great deals and I thought they found the exact right partners to deal with like you might think like hey what does Portland need Drew Holiday for like they’re not good but Portland is trying to build this defensive identity and Portland clearly had no interest in giving Anthony Simons any kind of money after this season they did that once they weren’t going to do it again so really what the Blazers are doing with Holiday is taking the two years uh left on his deal getting him on a like basically a three-year deal for a guy like that they can live with that um and look the Celtics can just take this flyer on Simons let him shoot 500 threes next year and uh walk away from him maybe he shows them something maybe he wants to be there maybe it clicks but they can just walk away from that atlanta they’re another perfect partner like they were looking to do they didn’t really want to just blow the whole thing up and and trade away Trey and and reboot that whole thing they didn’t I never got the vibe from them that that was kind of what they were looking for over the last few weeks you know Porzingis at his best looks like a really good fit playing opposite Trey Young and like contract year Chris Porzingis is going to ball out like the last time we saw contract year-ish Porzingis was in Washington and he put up huge numbers there i think you’re going to get the very best of Chris Es Porzingis so I I look the circumstances suck the Celtics are not going to be good next year you know probably be lucky to fight for I mean I guess the Eastern Conference anything is possible but they’re probably a playin type of team but I thought they did really well given the circumstances because they found the two teams out there that needed exactly what they had
well I’m going to reach into my ZAG bag i have multiple ZAGs for everything you just said
okay
um first of all I’m not sure the Celtics are going to be that bad next year in this weird Eastern Conference is it am I just is it the Celtics fan side of me just kicking in i was looking at the roster and I’m like man Holiday in the in the playoffs and in the Knicks areas I thought looked pretty rough um that was a team that I think four years ago I was talking to uh my dad about this yesterday because my dad was visiting we were like four years ago Holiday against Brunson Holiday guarding towns you could have thrown Holiday on basically any Nick and he would have been hugely impactful and he just wasn’t in the Knicks series i was a little nervous about him going going forward you flip him into Simons who fills this scoring void that they clearly need with Tatum who I think you know Portland was pretty good down the stretch last year and he wasn’t not a piece of that you know so um I just I’m not willing to go play yet with them and I don’t think they’re wired that way you have a new owner I don’t think he’s gonna be like cool let’s go 35 and 47 like you don’t think Jaylen Brown is going to be going hey look at look at the Indiana is now with this Halburn situation knicks new coach who know like you go on through and maybe Jaylen Brown’s like “This is my time now i can carry us.” I don’t know i’m not I’m I I think all bets are off with the 202526 Celtics including more trades than them just gutting [ __ ]
so what let’s dig into that a little bit like I I love the lens that Brad Stevens is viewing this through like like you might be right like Jaylen Brown is probably a lock for an allNNBA team assuming he meets the criteria next year he’s I think he’s going to be great um you know Simons is going to score like they’ve got Dark White’s going to be Dark White they’ve got pieces there
but they’re not a championship team like both get on board so I think what the Celtics probably look at and are saying like “All right we can you know bring the ban back um pay the luxury tax penalties uh maybe maybe slide under the second apron who knows whatever they they may do and are we going to be happy with like this second round playoff exit like is that a victory for them?” Like to me this is all setting up an aggressive summer in summer of the 20 2026 when they can lose these repeater tax penalties they can be under uh the second apron maybe even under the first apron if they make a uh a few deals i I think they’re setting themselves up for that 26 27 season
well you can’t hit that you can’t hit that point hard enough though because it’s not just the money
it’s all this weird roster [ __ ] that comes with being over the second apron and being a repeater like it actually really does hurt your roster for multiple years
kills it
and you have to get under it so they did
yeah they did and I I I applaud them for that like I I don’t I don’t care about a second like making the playoffs as a four seed and being feisty against the Knicks in the second round i I don’t care about that i don’t think Brad Stevens cares about that either like this this to me all these deals scream like let’s just get through next year let’s take the gap year and then let’s have flexibility like we can go into 26 27 with still arguably one of the top five twoman duos in the NBA in Tatum and Brown like that can be the core derek White is still under contract he can be part of the core like they they’re giving themselves room to operate in the summer of 2026 and all they’re doing really is sacrificing you know whatever next year is going to look like i I mean look I did think Porzingis was kind of interesting to move off him to him to be the first guy or one of the first guys you move off because he he loves it in Boston he loves his role in Boston those playing there everything about being a Celtic like could you have convinced Porzingis next summer to sign for a lesser number maybe maybe to be part of what they were doing there maybe you could have convinced him maybe you can still convince him to do that if you have some room to operate in the summer how do we know he’s not just moving to Atlanta for 9 months and coming back
he might or he can sign with the Wizards again for the gargantuan amount of cap space they’re exactly um so that that was kind of interesting to me that they that they moved off him as quickly as they did but everything else like I get it like this they’ll be a feisty fun team next year i think Simon’s going to have some great moments that team like he’s he’s going to put up like 40point games at some point with them u but they’re not
I can’t wait to talk about Simons this episode is presented by State Farm it’s no secret that great teams need great something interesting there you said this allows them to be really aggressive in the summer of 2026 i don’t disagree what if it allows them to be really aggressive in January or February of 2026 because the hidden piece of this now they have Nang who’s I think he’s expiring after this year right
and then Simons same thing you put those together I’m at 35 million with those two guys right i am now in the mix in a bunch of different ways now right what if the Celtics are better than they thought what if Tatum’s rehab is way ahead and they feel like he can come back and like I just think they wanted malleability with the roster and with Drew which you know I if you do the on paper thing with the Drew Simons trade you’d be like whoa Boston got a younger player and an expiring whose arrows still may be pointing up a tiny bit drew’s arrow pointing down that’s not why Portland did the deal i mean Drew is like you saw it um and you were you were covering the Seltz a little bit last year like the Drew is like one of the most beloved behind the scenes teammates um in Milwaukee in in uh in Boston like just he was in Boston for two years and I think he goes down him and Horford I think are going to go down as Hall of Fame just everybody in the organization raving about people as people if you’re Portland you have this defensive identity you’re building but more importantly you’re bringing in like an adult an awesome guy a role model a leader like just everything you’re looking for if you’re a younger team and you have to factor that in with the trade even if he was slipping a little bit last year the stuff he brings like think about Horford just the last few years of his career where it’s like I don’t he’s now almost 40 still doing it like Holiday might be able to be that guy for three four more years but it’s the off the court stuff that I think you know they that’s just you need that [ __ ] nobody’s signing to go play in Portland so anyway I I really like that trade for both teams
you mentioned the Simons piece like and obviously the West Coast League pass i’ve watched my share of Portland i have a lot of Scoot Henderson stock simons will just go nuts
you have a lot of Scoot Henderson stock
me and Rillo we have most of it we corner the market i respect I respected your Nesmith Island stock i don’t know
we have that we bought we just invested in Cam Whitmore Allan
okay
um but Simons will just get super hot and you look at this this is why I was talking back before about like I don’t know if the Celtics are going to be that bad
you Pritchard and Simons out there those are like two of the better heat check guards in the league you have Jaylen who’s still a top 20 guy you might have rebounding you’re going to have a good coach you have this philosophy of just gunning up threes they’re going to be way worse defensively porzingis played half the year last year and then was a you know a corpse in the playoffs cuz he wasn’t healthy i don’t know like I don’t know how much worse the Tatum piece is the piece that’s the disaster but if you talk about the rest of it like they might be all right they might be an overachiever i don’t know i’m prepared for anything
i’m prepared for a top five team potentially if everybody stays healthy and and everything goes right for them but again that doesn’t it doesn’t get you anywhere like the I the what I like about
But the thing is can they be fun though i think is what matters because if you’re doing basically a gap year and you’re resetting it you can’t you have the Celtics run where the fans have just watched a really awesome team for eight years in a row
you can’t just be like “Yep we don’t care about this year.” Like I still feel like they care a little bit about this year right not to win a title but just to be entertaining at least i think we’re looking at we’re kind of we kind of you and I care about two different things one I Well you care more than I do about them being fun next year like I I don’t care
fun and malleable are the two words I would use i want them to have malleable roster and actually not be a disaster
malleable is fine i mean they’re not with Jaylen Brown and the talent they have they’re never going to be a disaster and the conference that they’re in that gets weaker by literally the day with the Hallebertton injury like it’s going to be impossible for them
not to compete although you know God knows what the Wizards look like they might be actually be better uh next year um
right
i I just I I just don’t I don’t care like I I I think what I know what Brad’s doing is saying like look Tatum put whatever timeline you want on him but I’m I’m skeptical Tatum comes back at all like I don’t see the point to it like there’s no way people saying like eight nine months like what in what world like why why would you drop him back into the lineup post all-star break when you might be in a playoff race that’s just a recipe for disaster that makes no sense like they they have their pick in 2026 like that has to be factored in
chris don’t ruin this for me i’m just saying man like they’ve got their pick in 2026 let them I mean Boston fans can accept a gap year where they stink out the joint maybe even wind up with a lottery pick if they’re really if they go the other way and are really bad and all of a sudden in the summer of 2026 you got Tatum coming back you’ve got Brown still there you’ve got White still there you’ve got the genius of Brad Stevens and I we I think he’s he’s really good at this job he was a really good coach and he’s also a really good general manager you got that all in play to shake up the roster one more time in the summer of 2026 i I I’m fine with that i I don’t care if they win 30 games next year i really don’t i I think that’s
this exercise then chris Manx here’s a Celtics team that’s going to have Jaylen Brown Derek White Pton Pritchard Anthony Simons Nang i’m gonna throw in Horford and Cornette little little Kada
you think Hold on hold on you You think Horford’s back
i do i think he finishes his career in Boston i think it’s hit that point with him why are you skeptical
i think I think the market could be really interesting for Horford if he Look maybe he wants the Stags i don’t know
he’s made $300 million
i’m with you but when I you know in the last few weeks whenever I have offseason conversations with with GMs like a lot of it’s like Al Horford would fit great there like the Knicks get bounced out well Al Horford would fit pretty good in New York san Antonio sitting down there with Webyama wouldn’t you love to have a guy like Al Horford in your rotation as well this probably like a third of the league given what Al still has left and what Al’s salary demands are going to be that theoretically would be interested
so you’re saying like the mid level like the 7 million or even higher
higher maybe 10 12 I don’t know like what he make 10 last year two years 20 was his last contract i could see him in play like
Yeah I I am deep deep down you’re triggering me now because I’m deep down I am a little worried about this because the team I’m worried about is the Lakers that’s like obvious
obvious Al Horford fit where they could just kind of grab him i mean there’s some other ones but I don’t know he won a title in Boston he’s beloved in Boston and it’s like you don’t he doesn’t have to chase a ring because he won a ring right and if you’re talking about difference between they could pay him two and a half million versus seven whatever it is like you’re gonna uproot i don’t know we’ll see but um I don’t think the team’s going to be I don’t know let’s go through I’m going to read you everybody in the East and you tell me what teams are definitively better than the Celtics next year let’s say there no more trades and they keep hazard
so we would say Cleveland yes
yes
we would say the Knicks yes
yes and Orlando yes
love the Orlando trade yeah
those three I think we can both agree have better rosters and a chance for regular season success than the Celtics next year
i would agree yeah Detroit I think I would agree all right so there’s four then you you you all of a sudden I’m in Indiana with no Hallebertton giannis with no teammates um Miami I don’t even know what they’re trying to do the Hawks might be the biggest threat for the five seed out of anybody we’re listing toronto give me a break philadelphia I have no idea how many Embiid games I’m getting um I feel like the five seed is is wide open in the East which is more of a reflection of how how uh gutted the East is
yeah and I look at Philly and we’ll see what happens on draft night i I think there’s a lot of potential moves in play in the next 24 hours for Philadelphia um if Embiid’s healthy they’re better than Boston um Atlanta if Porzingis can give you
just give me an if Embiid’s healthy
i’m just saying I’m giving you
I’m g giving I’m giving them benefit of the doubt here on this one if if Embiid’s healthy they’re better than Boston like
right and Atlanta if Porzingis gives us 65 plus games they’re better than Boston so we’re kind of in that same range there where I could see them anywhere from like eight to five right so they’re getting Porzingis and Jaylen Johnson back
i love Jaylen Johnson i want all the stock on Jaylen Johnson
if you and I were the Atlanta Consiliaries I would be like [ __ ] go for it man you you still have a $25 million trade exception that expires on July 7th like go for it go get Orman Powell from the Clippers like let’s go like go get go get a real player who can play in a playoff series um you got Jaylen Johnson coming back so it’s almost like you’re signing a free agent research is a year older you have Porzingis basically replacing Capella but you also have a Congru i like their team i like their team last year i I felt like if Jaylen Johnson didn’t get hurt last year I thought that would have been a really interesting round one team
i think Jaylen Johnson Jaylen Johnson to me is one of and amongst NBA people he’s not underrated but like publicly he’s criminally underrated like every time I watch that guy play on TV or in person he is outstanding and you know if he’s healthy he’s going to be an all-star next year
uh yeah I mean Porzingis Johnson Trey not a ton of defense with that group um but I I with that $25 million exception I think going for it is the right play and I think that’s their mindset too like the Porzingis trade to me signals that Atlanta is going to try in this conference which is the right thing to do given what’s sitting up at the top
well they also have the 13th pick in the draft that they got from Sacramento so they still have the possibility of maybe there’s one more move where they move backwards and pick up a veteran i tried to talk myself into Atlanta saying yes to Hower and the 28th for the number 13th but I don’t think that’s enough but I love Sam Hower and I actually think that would be a good trade for Atlanta so maybe consider that one Atlanta
the market is robust right now for Sam Hower from what I’ve heard i mean he’s starting that four year 45 million yeah yeah i mean he’s he’s a 40 plus% three-point shooter who’s been on a championship team who’s got a very manageable contract like there’s a lot of teams that could use guys like that and I don’t know if Baylor Shyman is Sam Hower 2.0 or can replicate anything he does but I know he’s a lot cheaper and I think that’s going to be the priority for the Celtics with that particular spot in the lineup
i feel like you might get aggregated on hoopite now manx Hower trademark it robust
feels like a hot take though it feels like a very lukewarm take that the 26y old elite three-point shooter maybe can’t guard that many guys but can make a a shot at 40% from three that’s
well it says like the sneakiest Wait haven’t you watched tape stop thinking you can challenge him and post up dudes because he’s actually like a halfdeent defender and 101 on an island he’s actually okay i think the Pistons make a lot of sense for him and I’m I’m interested to see what they do
because that’s you know when we talk about the wide open East if I’m the Pistons I’m really looking at hey we might be one move I would have I would have kicked the tires hard on Durant we talked about that the other day on this podcast like I just would have I I have Cade who’s one of the best 15 guys in the league i have a young team um I have an identity like what can I improve that Tobias Harris spot and go up a level um yeah from a Celtic standpoint the Jaylen part will be really fun um the the Pritchard Simons together as a back like the Pritchard Simons Derek White I don’t know i’m in on it i can’t believe they were able to pull out those two trades i thought Porzingis was going to be impossible
just I just thought they were going to have to take a giant contract back because he’s making 30 like they needed they basically needed the Nets to be involved somehow and then the Nets were like “Whoa Terrence man and another pick we already have four all right cool.” Yeah what do you think the Nets are up to here because they’re not acrewing all these draft picks to just draft guys like that’s when when when I was at the draft lottery talking to people in Brooklyn and people that talk to Brooklyn the most deflated team not to move up was the Brooklyn Nets because the Brooklyn Nets believe that a top four pick was going to put them in play for one of the bigger names out there now obviously Giannis was at the very top of their list no idea if Giannis what’s gonna happen or how that’s going to play out in the next few weeks but all I know is that the Nets acquiring one sixth of Thursday’s draft is not so they can draft five guys like that’s just not that’s not what Shawn Marx is looking to do here i’m very curious to see what the next 24 hours look like for Brooklyn if they if they have something else in mind another deal in mind to to use these picks for
well we think San Antonio is staying at two with Harper i think that’s locked in philly I’m prepared for literally anything you could give me any scenario and I would sign up for it so if you told me Daryl feels like I my model says we should take Ace Bailey we don’t even need to take take him at three he’s going to be there at seven we’ll trade back with Brooklyn or trade back to eight he’s still going to be there at 8 and we’ll pick up all these other picks and then I’ll do weird Daryl stuff with them you could talk me into that um you could talk me into anything with Charlotte because I don’t think
Can I Can I throw something about Charlotte so Charlotte so this Ace Bailey thing is wild like Ace Bailey kind of being navigated by an agent that doesn’t have a ton of experience uh not working out for anybody um like I think my my theory on this on Ace Bailey is that right or wrong he he or his team believe there’s a team out there that he wants to go to that is going to trade up with Charlotte like he’s not working off of Philadelphia there’s got to be a reason for that he he’s not he’s not going to Utah uh I don’t think he wants to go to Charlotte i think that Ace Bailey thinks that there’s a team that’s going to leap up get that Charlotte pick and he wants to play there that’s my theory on Ace Bailey that
a team like the Brooklyn Nets
maybe maybe
so Charlotte moves back four spots
they pick up a bunch of extra assets
which they need more than that fourth pick I would argue
right yeah because especially if if Edgecom goes third which I think is the guy Charlotte wants um trying to decode all the what’s [ __ ] but what’s actually real and it really does seem like that’s the guy they want um and maybe they they’re like “Fuck it then we’ll move back.” Um for Brooklyn I feel like Ace Bailey is going to drop to eight and I wouldn’t trade up to get him because I think I think when you put the stink out like that we saw it work with SAR last year like Sar did this to uh Atlanta he’s like I’m nope not even going if you take if you take me buyer beware this does work when you have a pick that high and you have usually if you’re picking that high your team’s probably a mess to begin with right and it’s like “All right so who’d you take with this prime lottery pick?” We took the guy who literally wouldn’t fly to come work out with us who refuses to take our calls and won’t send us his medical records until the league mandated that he had to that’s our first pick high fives everybody like nobody wants to do that so this actually works i think it’s it’s smart but on the other hand it’s possible that Ace Baile is just a train wreck the stuff of the representation is pretty alarming like there’s and there’s a lot of stories that have been
I think being passed around and people aren’t really talking about the publicly but there’s just it just seems like a train wreck
it it it’s not like this is being it’s not like this is being orchestrated by like a Bill Duffy or some rich Paul i’m doing the chessboard here it it it doesn’t feel like chess board type stuff checkers what board game would you do shoots and ladders i like whatever i mean it just
they’re playing shoots and ladders
it just feels very simp the only thing I can think of though is that they somebody’s trying to get to four and they like the team that’s trying to get to four that goes against him i think if he’s at eight Brooklyn’s going to take him like all the stuff that’s going on with Ace Bailey he’s a shot maker like I I don’t know if he flames out he doesn’t have the the mindset for it or the complete skill set to become a great player but that guy can get you a bucket like that’s why those weird Durant comparisons I can kind of see it i can kind of see shades of it u and if he’s sitting there at eight I think Brooklyn’s going to take him i also don’t think he gets past Washington i think Washington would take a flyer on a guy like that uh with a high upside at number six so I I think if at four is when this well three it’s going to get interesting because I don’t know what Philadelphia is going to do either but I think at four it gets real interesting with respect to Ace Bailey if Lash doesn’t take him at six I’m going to be disappointed i don’t know if it’s the right pick for them and it seems like the kind of guy they’ve the type of of of kind of polarizing quarter they’ve had in the past where it’s usually like “Oh man that didn’t work out.” Um Brooklyn makes the most sense if that’s his endgame but uh I think this is a great draft i’ve really enjoyed it i’ve enjoyed doing the research for it i think it’s really unpredictable you have Cooper at the top it’s so funny like he goes and works out for Dallas and and then the stories are going Cooper flag he knocked everyone’s socks off people were blown away it’s like we can stop doing that with the Cooper Flag workouts we get it he blows everyone away he’s amazing he’s [ __ ] you know juggling three balls beating everybody in drills like we get it he’s amazing um and then two Harper is locked in but then we get to three and it’s like I’m prepared for anything
mhm
tradebacks i There’s three guys I wouldn’t be surprised if they took i wouldn’t be surprised if if Daryl took Ace i know you wouldn’t either if he was just like “Yeah Ace has the highest upside i think he can be a superstar.” Edgecomb we think he’s Dwayne Wade he just needs to figure out how to finish a layup canipple perfect for the team we have we think Embiid’s going to play 70 games he fits in he does this this and this it’s a It’s an awesome draft let’s take a a quick break and I have some more uh some more trade stuff to throw at you this episode is were the Atlanta Hawks are you building this around Trey Young you feel good about that i don’t feel good about it um I don’t think that Trey Young can be the number one guy on a championship team um I do think Trey Young as the number one guy in a conference that stinks can be the number one guy on an Eastern Conference championship team i think they’re in play next year
um so I I think that’s the mindset that Atlanta probably has going into this season because it’s not uh look they they if they want to blow this whole thing up they can do it next summer you know Porzingis is coming off the books young will have one less year left in his contract you’ll still have Jaylen Johnson to build around long term like this is kind of the perfect year to sort of go for it see what you can get with that $25 million trade exception see if there’s some guy that fits you know either in the back court alongside Trey a four spot I don’t know wherever they think is the right fit and go for it this year um and if it doesn’t work screw it then next year they’ll be there’ll be a market for Trey Young next year somebody’s going to want to get him like I mean nobody wants to sign with Washington maybe they take him on like they they absorb his contract into into their books like there’s a lot of things you can do if you’re Atlanta beyond this season like this no matter what they’re not going to win a title like I think we both can agree on that with with this group but you
after Indiana I’m not willing to agree on anything indiana win 15 playoff games
i know Indiana plays with just a
I don’t know if you get guys around Trey Young that are tough like that n Smith Seakum u you know Nemhard i don’t see those guys in Atlanta i don’t see them look at their depth chart i don’t see a ton of those guys i don’t I I look but I think in this this landscape I mean you can do it you can make a run with this group and if you can great maybe you see like hey we just one piece away or and then we’ll add that guy in the offseason or you know you go into next summer and you blow the whole damn thing up you trade Trey Young and you rebuild around a really good player an all-star and Jaylen Johnson i think it’s all upside for the Hawks
we see it the same way i think this is the official Trey Young audition year what do you got here we put we put a bunch of guys with blank who can who can protect you on defense we have a little pick and pop threat now with Porzingis we also have a real center who can protect the rim um I don’t know what they’re going to do with 13th pick and that trade exception but we assume there’s one more really good guy coming and it’s like let’s see we’ve we’ve created the type of team I think what they have a chance to do is what we watched Indiana do with Hallebertton where they built a roster around a guy’s specific skill set in Trey’s case they can protect him on defense and they’re surrounding them with shooters and length which is kind of what you’d have to do um and at Indiana um it’s I I’m I’m still You didn’t go to game seven did you
i did yeah
oh yeah i’m still reeling from just that whole thing and and then also that you know to come that close to winning a title to have the first five minutes the way it went and then to realize much like Celtic fans last month where it’s like not only did we just get knocked out of the playoffs but next year is now gone too like it’s it was just so much i’m still digesting it i can’t even imagine what it was like to be there i I’ve I think that Oklahoma City has emerged as a top three crowd in the NBA i think Boston’s better i think New York’s better but I think Oklahoma City’s right there you make an argument for somebody else fine but I think Oklahoma City is right there uh in that three spot i’ve never experienced a crowd that amped up just cut it go completely silent the way that it did everybody in that moment knew exactly what happened based on how he moved how he responded i mean
players from both sides crowd media everybody knew i’ve never seen a a reaction quite like that when you had a crowd amped up to an 11 just going nuts and then have that happen and everything just go completely silent it was it was surreal man being there and seeing him go down like that and then his reaction he’s banging his hand on the floor and then you watch in the replay on the monitor and you can see the the calf buckle so you know right away exactly what it is that was tough that was real tough to watch in in real time
yeah I was thinking about it because we podcasted after that night and I was thinking after about some stuff I wish I had thought of when we were doing it live because I I was still like kind of gathering i It was just so incredible of a basketball situation and a life situation it was hard to wrap your head around i was thinking about um I think it was two it was my first year I was writing for ESPN Panther second year so it was like maybe 2002 playoffs when Dirk got hurt and everybody was like he’s got to suck it he was hurt in the playoffs i think it was against Sacramento and it was so long ago I can’t even remember but he was hurt and Cuban didn’t want to bring him back in he didn’t want him to play hurt and his whole thing was like Dirk’s going to be our guy for a long time it’s not worth it to play him in this playoff series and I remember writing I think I wrote in my piece like that’s crazy if you have a chance for the title you have to go it and as I’ve gotten older I feel completely differently about it like you know obviously he was hurt obviously they shot him up so he could play right and then you go out and you tell the you tell the person “Hey man you know be careful don’t you’re you’re injured just be careful how you do this but what happens you hit a couple threes the adrenaline’s rising you know he’s going in a timeout and you just kind of forget you’re hurt but he was hurt and then he made it worse and now they really screwed up their team and I don’t know just that Cuban Derk decision i was I was thinking about that about do you play him do if you play him are you more careful like and Hallebertton’s like I have no regrets it was game seven we had a chance to win the title but I don’t know something still doesn’t sit right with it with me
i I agree it’s like that old that old parable where the guy drowns and he blames God for you know for not saving him it’s like we have we we have a we have a lot of evidence over the last five years that show that these types of calf injuries lead to a catastrophic injury like an Achilles tear the Durant situation i think Dame’s injury was kind of some of that him coming back from you know deep vein thrombosis and being thrust right back into a high pressure high octane situation like we’ve got the evidence it’s it’s out there it’s you just point to it and say “This is the kind of stuff that not only can happen but but does happen at a frequently alarming weight rate.” And and I don’t know what you tell like like Rick Carlile you know I was at all those games and all the pregame stuff and Rick Carl every single pregame was like we’re watching him we’re watching him we’re watching him so obviously they probably tell and even Hallebertton I think after game five maybe like somebody asked him like have you been told that there’s not a high risk of injury he’s like no I have not been told that like he knew that something was possible you know there but I don’t know how you tell a guy in game seven of the NBA finals whether or not he made three of the first five shots that he took three threes i don’t know how you tell a guy going in like go at 80% like it’s impossible to tell a guy
just be Yeah just be careful be careful be careful you kind of can’t do that cuz he was careful in game six he wasn’t that good
unless you’re going to you know camp him out in the corner and have him be a decoy then this this was always a potential maybe
that’s what they should have done i
mean they kind of did that they kind of did that for was it game six for a lot of game six
I think it was he he was kind of hanging on the perimeter just lingering around uh yeah maybe they should have gone that route but like you’re never going to be able to tell a guy of that caliber like “Hey man this could happen don’t push off as hard don’t break to the basket if you see an opening.” Like it’s too hard to have a guy compartmentalize that stuff
i I’m still wrapping my head around it i I’ve never seen
But who do you blame do you like like Yeah it’s not like I don’t blame anybody because it’s obviously his choice he wants to play it’s no different than like we both love boxing and we love UFC and people make decisions with their bodies and their heads and we watch it over and over again and you can’t be like you dummy you shouldn’t have played obviously he wanted to play it was super risky but I’ve never I mean to come that close when you think of like the two sliding doors of this guy was on pace to be the hero of that game and then in at the seven six minutee mark whenever it was all of a sudden he’s done for a year like I I’ve never seen anything like that the and the Tatum thing was horrible when that happened i mean that was one of the more traumatic We had two of the most traumatic NBA injuries we’ve ever had in the span of a month and nobody’s been able to explain this Achilles thing i was texting with Doc about it i was like “Nobody had these old these were old guys injuries these are injuries like my uncle Bob started playing pickle ball and he blew out his Achilles like these don’t happen to people in their primes and doc we were saying I was like when when you were playing I was saying this to Doc like you know you you just play pickup in the summer right that’s you weren’t doing these like 365 days a year all this training and practicing euro steps and footwork and maybe it’s too much like maybe they really have to re-evaluate all the stuff they’re doing was saying we just played pickup every day on concrete in 100 degree weather and then our knees went so in the old days the knees went and now it feels like it’s the below the knees is starting to go and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that two of the best guys who still were arrow pointing up for their careers had this injury that nobody had before recently
is is there so I I’ve texted a few medical people you know team trainers whatnot for theory it’s all theory at this point but u is there anything to the idea that maybe now more than ever these guys are just basketball players like they’re they’re not they’re not
the specialist yeah you you grow up you know a lot of guys you cover back in the day they were football players they were you know hockey players if they grew up in the Northeast like they were playing other sports nowadays it’s it’s straight basketball like Cooper Flag is is actually an example i spent the better part of a couple of weeks around him um did he blow you away
uh him personally no no okay sc you know who’s I mean the the greatest like he was on the cover of the magazine the greatest Cooper Flag supporter is Scowl like he’s out of his mind in support of this guy he thinks he’s like LeBron like this is you know he might have to settle down a tad but you do you you put you put together your Mount Rushmore tomorrow like in or day one of the season scout’s going to have Cooper flag on the top of that on that Mount Rushmore but he’s like to this point like he grew up uh you know in first grade second grade he was a great football player you know this is why they consider a prodigy great everything football uh played soccer played baseball but just stopped after I think second or third grade whatever it was and then just focused entirely on basketball that’s what a lot of these guys jason Tatum when he got to a young age you know got with Drew Hanlin when he was young and started working on skills just this
um I wonder if there’s anything to the singular focus on the game where you’re not kind of
you know doing other things that might protect your your your body from these types of of injuries again it’s all theoretical but this kind of came up with a couple of of training people that that I’ve talked to but it’s worth looking into more if you’re the NBA like having having Kobe Terries Achilles in the back end of his career is one thing having you know an alpha an MVP candidate like Tatum the star of the postseason like Hallebertton like this is something that that they need to look at
yeah kobe who was playing those 48 minute games during that stretch right and he was at the end of his career and he pushed it too far and it made sense it doesn’t these the equipment’s too good the training stuff’s too good the medicine’s too everything’s too good for to have this injury i don’t really fully understand it and I also don’t understand why it’s not happening in other sports right like it’s not happening in tennis you know it’s not I think Tiger tore his Achilles in golf but it’s just Anyway that was uh that was quite a tangent we just did what players so you’re you’re obviously texting a million people and we’re all sifting through the same [ __ ] not knowing what’s real and not real and then anytime a trade happens it’s like that’s a trade like I thought Drew was going to Dallas or Phoenix i really did and I would have bet on Dallas i would have bet I thought Dallas was like minus 200 for a Drew home i thought it was going to be two pieces one gets rrooted to Brooklyn or Atlanta wherever in their trade exception boston keeps the other piece and Dallas gets Drew portland comes and then it’s like “Oh yeah they’ve loved him the whole time.” It’s like “Really i didn’t hear that once.” Is there a player that you’re hearing floated around a name that has surprised you as we are now 24 hours away from the draft is there somebody like “Whoa that guy.” I don’t know if it’s a s well New Orleans is very much open for business that Zion not particularly but they’re a team that is determined to shake things up like could Herb Jones be available in New Orleans i mean that’s a small name but uh I think that’s something interesting uh again I don’t know what Philadelphia is going to to do here um are they do they just sit on that draft pick and take it do they try to package it does is Paul George in play you know I I’ve heard some of that over the last uh 24 hours or so that they could be looking to
to trade back with Paul George
yeah to do something there um yeah those the Philly stuff is what I’ve been most looking at i think the Charlotte thing is the next one i think Charlotte is very open for business at number four to move down um and I think there’s a team that’s going to be in play that tries to move up and and take uh take that Charlotte spot
i’m intrigued by the Clippers who don’t seem like they have a lot going on but also don’t seem to be super happy with their roster just like what where’s the evidence they’re going to be better this year than or this coming year than they were and I thought they were right there with some of these other teams but I also think they’re going to be a year older next year um I I’m just they’ve been quiet which makes me suspicious and then the the team I cannot figure out for the life of me is Miami because I’ve heard they didn’t offer anything for Durant if you talk to some different like NBA team people they’re like we heard the Miami thing was like close to being done and something happened i don’t know what to believe anymore and I don’t know what Miami is up to and you know usually they’re star hunting right around now and they’ve been quiet too and I don’t know are they going to zag and go the other way i don’t know the Miami part of it from what I heard after the deal got done was you know Khalil Wear was off the table and really the only thing that was on the table was Wiggins some contract filler a little bit of draft capital nothing at all
what the fudge nothing they didn’t which means they didn’t really want him
i But I Bill I I don’t know who like besides Houston who really wanted him this off season i think the Clippers you mentioned them i think they we’re interested they just don’t have anything to really offer that Phoenix might be looking for um San Antonio was clear there was some I don’t I don’t know if the hard and tires were kicked oh no no that that wouldn’t be that would be bad it it didn’t work but I I’ll put it this way
i don’t think Harden’s game seven went over great you think
i don’t think it went over great with literally anybody on the on the Clippers so and but I also don’t think there’s a market for him but like if we were talking about like most shocking name that you could see getting traded in the next week that isn’t actually shocking he would be on my list i just don’t know who he would be trading for
i mean there was no market for him last off season and the Clippers gave him a deal that he he never would have gotten anywhere else like that was I never understood that deal at the time i don’t think the Clippers want to pay Norman Powell long term either had a had a great year last year but
has he plateaued as a player is that going to be a if they give him money is that going to be a contract they’re trying to get off of
in two years i think they they have that mindset
um just the Durant stuff like I I I’ve been writing Houston since last February cuz I knew from being around the Rockets how much Eay liked him and how much Durant respected Eay from the Brooklyn days and the USA basketball days and how well the fit worked like I I went down there in in February March to do something on on Amen and and like even then like Raphael Stone was you know on and off the record was like we’re not doing anything like we’re we’re trying to see what this team looks like in the playoffs and they got they got their look they got the look jaylen Green’s not the guy jaylen Green is never going to be the guy so now they go out and maybe it’s not a a round peg round hole type of fit given the age of Durant but I believe that Kevin Durant is still capable of being like one of the best scorers in the NBA for 65 plus games in a season and I think given what I saw from that team in the playoffs last year
that’s exactly who they need like
especially in the in the playoffs themselves 100% that’s what they
You replace you replace Kevin Durant healthy Kevin Durant with you swap out Jaylen Green they beat Golden State in the first round like I I don’t know how what the ceiling is after that but they beat Golden State in the first round i I think I think the Rockets who are going to get real organic growth from their young guys next year starting with Thompson who I think is an absolute monster waiting to to to break out um I I think they’re now in play to win the Western Conference and if I was looking at the biggest biggest threats to Oklahoma City next year
uh without knowing exactly what Denver is going to look like uh I would say Houston’s at the top of that list we agree and I also what what’s so interesting about that trade I wish I had said this Sunday when we talked about it it feels like they still have a trade left they were able to keep enough assets to do another move like I don’t think the Celtics are trading Jaylen and I hope they don’t but if they did trade Jaylen weirdly Houston is still the best home for him van they’d have to put the Van Bleed thing in it to make it work but and I think Tar East would have to be in it but that with all the picks they have there’s a move now a little reminiscent we’ve seen this in years like the ‘ 07 to08 Celtics was the best example of like you do this one move and then that opens the door for the second move makes more sense right do the Ray Allen trade now a KG trade makes more sense than it did if it was just gonna be KG and Paul um I I just I can’t count out Jaylen and Houston even though I don’t want Boston to trade Jaylen i don’t think they’re going to
i I don’t know that Houston has enough to get Boston’s attention there like the the Van Lee contract and and what else like you want to take on the Suns picks in 27 and 29 like he want I mean that I don’t know that how how Jayen
would basically be all the basically all the picks and een and ban bu contract you’re right it probably isn’t enough but
see
it’s enough for somebody and it keeps him in the Giannis Giannis area too in January February if that goes bad
I thought San Antonio was the most and I I said this at you know a couple weeks ago I thought San Antonio was the most interesting team for Jaylen if if they decided to go that direction now I think
they still are still are but like I the Spurs may be just keeping their powder dry in case the Giannis thing just bursts and like they can make a play there but if that’s not on the table they can very easily put together a package that makes a lot of sense for both sides i to bring it full circle to Boston though like I I like that it sure seems like they’re not jettisoning Jaylen here like that that I think was a thought you know as they were trying to figure out what to do with this team moving forward but I like that they’re not dumping this guy because it’s hard to get two guys like Tatum and Brown like it’s hard to get two guys that you know can win together on a championship level and I like that they’re keeping him intact keeping him there and presumably going to keep him as part of a two or three person core that they’re going to build around in the summer of 2026 i just think that’s the right move for them to make and look teams were calling about Jaylen several of them calling to see the availability
it was a hot market for him in white there’s no question
no question but the Celtics were pretty firm that that you know yeah next year may suck for them you know it may it may even be a lottery year which I don’t think would disappoint too many people given that they have their pick it may be bad but 2026 we’re back like you know y’all must have forgot like with with with us in the in the fall of 2026 when Tatum comes back from that injury that’s that to me is what their their mindset is you know who’s not tanking joe Mazula who’s this absolute psycho
oh isn’t this fascinating i’m glad you brought that up this would be absolute psychology experiment watching him intentionally lose games and play lineups that would uh there’s just no way i don’t see it that’s why I think that I think it’s more likely they win 48 to 50 games than 32 to 35 games
but it it may be inescapable that they’re they’re not that good that there may be a 500 type of team i I’m fascinated to see how Joe Missoula handles mediocrity like does he like start plucking his eyebrows like after like a three-game losing streak
no they’re going to have to put him on like meds i think he’s going to have to be sedated like when like like with uh with when when you have little kids and you you put them on an airplane and you just have to make sure like that hey will you take this benadryil i need you I need to I need to knock you out for a second i don’t think he’ll be able to handle it
i mean he takes losses so hard we saw that during the last couple of seasons
take a leave of absence maybe he just leaves the team in January it’s like Joe’s going to go learn learn a next level of Muay Thai in Thailand for the next four months and we’ll bring him back in June just walking around challenging guys to Muay Thai fights across Europe and Africa like I could I could see that i I could see that it will be it’ll be interesting to see how he he deals with it because
Wait can we can we say one thing on Jaylen Brown i think it’d be a huge mistake to trade him unless it was like for 200 cents in the dollar and especially after like what the Red Sox did not to compare the same situation with Muki because that was different and they just didn’t want to pay him and they’re [ __ ] [ __ ] um I just I want to see Brown and Tatum together and I think Jaylen’s like really important in this city like he really gives a [ __ ] about the right things and I don’t think you can lose guys like that if you don’t have to like there nobody expects them to win the title next year the salaries are going to be nuts but they’re going to be able to reset this whole apron thing and then make another three-year run and I just don’t see it i was actually looking at the OKC trying to figure out when they get screwed because this is one of the legacies of this Celtics run and then you think like OKC oh they’re so positioned and they are in a lot of ways right they’re young they have draft picks they have flexibility but then they really don’t when we get to the 2728 season I was trying to map out if they give Chad and Jaylen Williams the you know the contract extensions which would be um five for 247 Right and nobody takes less anymore like Chad’s like I want to help the team i’ll do five for 200 like he’s going to take the 247 so that would kick in in the 2627 season and Shay’s supermax really kicks in for the 2728 season all of a sudden he’d be making 65.5 million a year and Chad and JDub would would uh would be making 46 and 46 so just for those three guys you’re looking at $158 million for three guys and the second apron for that year would be around 230
yeah cap will go up it’ll Yeah those numbers
yeah i was I was trying to factor in the cap like because the cap goes up 10% max every year and the apron’s tied to that
so they’d have about 70 million left for the rest of their roster after those three guys and the point is the NBA has created this league now where even if you do everything correctly you make all the right trades all the right draft picks you just [ __ ] nail every step you’re still [ __ ] like three years later and the Celtics are the latest example we’re seeing Denver now that they can’t even build around yeah I want to talk about that in a second um but I just think when I wish I had said this on Sunday night when we talk about like oh they’re going to own the rest of the decade it’s like I think we’re talking three four year windows for anybody cuz it’s too hard after that
yeah they’re look they’re more equipped than any team in the last what five six years to have sustained success i mean Milwaukee they didn’t have it in part because they went all in to get a guy like Holiday and cost themselves some picks then they missed
and they and they traded Drew assets too
yeah they they missed like on these picks though like that’s a big part of it too like the guys they drafted can’t play um Denver kind of the same thing not as far as giving away draft capital but when the veterans got too expensive for that team and maybe they should have spent a little more money especially on guy like KCP um their young players were not ready to step in and and play
well and then they did the Zeke Naji extension they extended Porter to the point that he’s untradeable making 40 million a year like that felt was it was like a Walmart deal there that was a that was an interesting deal for that was bad a bad one um Oklahoma City to me though is is a little bit different and and and you know this but like the way that the contracts are set up over the next three years help them navigate the books and I’m talking about the team options like there are a lot of team options you look at that those books Bill that those that happen in a year
Hardenstein’s got a team option next summer um Isaiah Joe I think has a team option
he does
the year after that lou Dort
lou Dort as well
another one there like you can either let these guys go and shave that money off your books and get underneath one of those aprons or you can convince someone like Hartinstein to you know take a little bit less to stick around and be part of maybe something he likes being a part of dort Dort I think might be different i think there’s going to be a big market for Dort next summer if he’s a free agent um I I think he’s a great player but you’ve got Kase Wallace looking to step in and look even next year like I did a little I did a little reporting Bill around uh young Nicole Topic during the finals
lot of Oklahoma City excitement about Nicole Topic lot of guys that have been scrimmaging with him uh you know Kendrick Williams talked to me for a while about him dagnol big fan of Nicole Topic it’s not it’s not an obvious path but if they can just get these guys to hit if they can get Topic to become part of their top eight or nine as early as next season if they can get Kase Walls to be good enough to step in and replace Lou Dort down the line if they can hit on one or or two of these next what is it seven picks right now in the next four years of the draft they can just hit on these guys they got they got a chance here to do what all those other teams we just mentioned have not done so I’m I’m a little more optimistic they can do um Mandang yes that’s another guy that you know they have guys they have guys that you know they’re not going to step into your top three or four but they don’t need them to do that they need guys between four and eight to to be consistent i think they’ve got more potential than any team of the last in the last five six years to have that
we 100% agree if any team is going to pull out
Topic Island by the way I’ll say this on your show i want all the real estate on Topic Island
i’m in too i’m I’ll I’ll call right after to look it up you got a condo
so I’m I agree with everything you just said i’m talking three years from now here’s here’s the counter and did you I didn’t you didn’t go to Indiana right for three and four
i did yeah
oh I didn’t Somehow I didn’t see you um Dorton Cruso won game four and that was the game they needed to win this series and the problem with all of this is you still need guys like that so it’s like oh yeah Wallace will praise Lou Dort it’s like Willie Lou Dort was [ __ ] awesome in that game four and so was Caruso and it’s like and you think about like the Celtics in 24 like Drew Holiday in the Indiana series like some of the stuff he was doing the Porzingis the boost he was you just lose that and the series can tilt in the wrong way and I I honestly think if Indie wins game four that series is done in six i really believe it i think Indie would have finished the series i think there was this moment in time in that second half where they had the series and they just couldn’t close it so we’ll see if they can do it they have to keep hitting on the Topic types of like whoever like they had they take like they can keep replenishing that Dort Carusa spot maybe what did you think of the Kroni thing today that I got a lot of texts about that one today kroni just he’s like “Yeah we basically opened the door for we might have to trade Jokic if he doesn’t want to sign an extension.” It was the most needless media story I’ve ever seen which makes it think makes me think it was intentional i just don’t think you make a mistake like that in a press conference when all of these guys are trained to just measure your words say things carefully i don’t think it was an accident i really don’t i I haven’t I’ve read the quote i haven’t watched the quote and I always want to watch it first just to make sure to understand fully the context but the right answer for any question about Nicole Yokic is we’re building around him forever we want a statue of him in front of the building that’s it
he’s never playing anywhere else he’s our guy him saying it trade the word trade should never wind up in the same three sentences within three sentences of Nicole ever the way he framed it was like it it made me think and this there’s always been this stuff floating around who knows if it’s true but it made me wonder if they think he wants to be there for the rest of his career or not the way it was there was something weird about the way he said it that made me think they’re nervous that if anybody’s just going to be like I’ll see you guys later i’m gonna go over here now like I who knows who knows what that dude um I don’t know i thought I I just thought it was a notable moment sometimes in the NBA there would be these little press conference moments or something said in a locker room or just some sort of tidbit where you go “Huh that kind of came out of nowhere what did that mean?” So I’m just I’m noting it
don’t Don’t you think that Don’t you think that like Jokic to me is more likely to just decide at the end of his next contract that he’s not going to play anymore like I’m just gonna go back to Serbia and race horses and I’ I’ve made enough money and I don’t want to train like this anymore like that that to me that’s always been like something you should be people should be wary about with Yok it’s like everybody says like he’s got the kind of game that could that’s going to age really well
and it probably will but I don’t see him at like age 39 like pulling like an Arvita Sabonis like I I don’t see him
I just don’t see him playing till the wheels come off i think he’s got a clock in his head for exactly how long he wants to play but regardless I’ve heard I’ve heard this theory that he’s really likely this was going around like a year ago if anyone’s likely to just be like “I’ll see you guys later thanks for everything,” it’s him i don’t believe it that dude’s too competitive and you you’ve been to some of these playoff games when he’s really locked in he’s a maniac i don’t think you’re going to be like “All right I’m just going to play in a shitty league now.” I think that guy wants to you know that what he did against OKC with the supporting cast he had especially as we saw what happened with this OKC team um pretty pretty crazy what else do we have anything else we need to hit before we go i mean I we want to talk boxing at the tail end but any other NBA story lines you’re excited about or No uh I think that’s Yeah that’s here here’s let me let me throw at you the the NBA story line that might not be applicable now but could be a year from now because I think this is the potential biggest free agent that could be out there
sam Prey and Oklahoma City like we’re going to get
two expansion teams probably in the next three years i think the NBA is going to step on the gas with the expansion now that the Lakers sold for10 billion dollars
you know who’s roadblocking them right now james Dolan
yeah that he’s got he’s got a little cabal of anti-expansion owners that he’s trying to just just to uh because he doesn’t want it he doesn’t want to share the media rights
yeah but James Dolan doesn’t want to share anything and and he doesn’t he votes no at every single board of governors meeting go back and look at some of these meetings like how many of them are 29 to1 like he sends his consigary in because he doesn’t really go to vote
i think he has a couple people this time though i think this expansion Yeah I think this expansion thing is a little
not enough little more complicated than people are giving it credit for including
it might be but it’s not it’s not enough like well how many do you need to expand is it 2/3 that
I thought it was three4s but it’s
either either way I don’t think that Dolan has enough to to block i I as many as that may be out there that quietly don’t want it i think there’s a lot that very publicly
well can you imagine people are like “Yeah I’m in the Dolan block dolan’s leading the way i’m on his side with the like can you imagine like aligning with that
i’m taking the expansion fee anyway
but like on the expansion side like let’s just assume Vegas and Seattle liberty believes that’s how it’s going to play out like if you’re the new Sonics um what’s Sam Prey worth to you
piece of the team
if you’re a piece of the team
2% of the team 1% whatever
same thing with the Vegas Gambler whatever the hell they’re going to be called uh worth the exact same thing like
but Seattle’s better though because that that’s the
we lost this guy to Oklahoma City now we brought him back to be our architect
he was 29 when he came here he’s 49 when he’s coming back and he’s going to build this team the way you know it’s it’s prophecy fulfilled all that stuff um I I don’t know that Sam is looking to leave Oklahoma but he’s been there a very long time and he’s not only won them a championship which is the priority but he’s set them up and presumably a Rob Henigan who would replace him who I hasn’t been seen much in the last 10 years but his is his his lieutenant there he’s got it set up so there’s a a ascension there and look I I’ve been saying at the time and I know you knew it too like Sam when when Boston was open before Brad Stevens got it like Sam was interested sam was interested in that job um
but the funny thing was Boston really wasn’t open i mean that was one of the things is like we went from Danny to Brad they had a Brad coaching situation and a big contract for him they had Danny ready to and it just I I I don’t think Prey did he ever get to throw his hat in the ring i don’t think he did
but externally nobody I don’t think externally people knew it was going to be that clean and ascension i I think people on the outside thought there might be
uh it might be an open job but I think when it was thought that way there was some I I think there was interest
background Prey Massachusetts went to Emerson like dream was to work for the Celtics and
just never happened
still hangs out in New England in the summertime with his family like Zilla does all that i’m just saying like he he wouldn’t have any reason to feel bad about leaving Oklahoma City he he helped win them a championship and he built a winner that can be there sustainable for the next three or four years uh of the chance to do something like build a team from from scratch for a guy like Sam Prey who has built two you know a title contender back in 2012 with the with the peak of the Durant Harden Westbrook years and a title winner that may have won multiple championships by the time his quote free agency comes up i just think that’s something to watch i I think that whatever two teams get the expansion rights I I think he is going to be someone that’s on their radar and I don’t think there’s any price probably too high for getting a guy like Sam Prey to run your team
manx you’ve done it again it’s a great call he’s accomplished his job he won the action movie he saved everybody in the burning building now uh if he leaves you couldn’t be mad about it um there’s also like if you left like I the expansion is going to be a couple years from now that’s right around the time maybe you’d want to get away from this OKC thing but he had an incredible run if I’m Seattle I guess the precedence would be like Pat Riley in Miami 30 years ago and they brought him in he got a little taste of the team and the whole thing um all right well we’ll see what happens in the draft let’s do boxing really quick though casual boxing fan Bill is here love it big fight Bill big fight Bill who didn’t even know that you were announcing uh one of the Paul brothers this weekend in Anaheim but who who’s he is Jake Paul who’s he fighting this weekend
he is fighting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
who uh who a lifetime ago was the middleweight champion of the world has fallen on some hard times as of late young Chavez Jr has had some documented drug and alcohol problems uh he actually lost to Anderson Silva in a boxing match which was not a good look a couple of years ago but he’s got a big name and he’s got a decent following and there’s a lot of Mexicans on the undercard so this is going to be a a interesting uh arena for uh Jake Paul on Saturday
okay what’s our big fight of the summer what are we looking forward to
um Usyk Dubois 2 is the most interesting right now um Dubois knocked out by Usyk 2023 like almost it’ll be almost to the day or the month when he got knocked out by Usyk and he’s back in with him
but Dubois has changed a lot over the last two years i mean he has gotten like a heart and confidence transplant like he he gets with a new trainer and Don Charles who’s a very very vocal guy as much about you know motivation kind of Mickeyesque as he is about tactics and he’s helped him put together a run that includes Jerrell Miller Philip Perovich and everybody saw the Anthony Joshua knockout like that was the crowning achievement and the title winning for uh for Dubois now he gets another crack at Usyk who just continues to be an all-time great doesn’t show any signs of slowing down but I think you know if this fight was made a year year and a half ago it wouldn’t have interested me at all the fact that it’s happening now after the the AJ win I think it’s really interesting it’s be like 80,000 fans in Wembley Stadium for for that fight and I I think it’s it’s an interesting fight now that Dubois has been on this run i can’t wait because nothing is more fun than throwing Usyk in a parlay with other sports and he’s just the most reliable leg every time just keep betting on him till he loses i’m already I I’m already so in the positive on Usyk fights like it’s everything’s gravy from this point on but I’m going to keep throwing him in there
and he and also Deontay Wilder’s back Bill on Friday in Kansas he is he has come back and he’s looking to make one more run at 39 years old ready to go
here’s a good here’s a good question for you that I I guarantee your podcast partner Sergio Mora wouldn’t set you up with an alleyoop like this who has a chance to be boxing’s Caitlyn Clark the out of nowhere person that would get everybody excited about the casual fans is there anybody because I I’ve given up on Beoli i sold my stock at a loss that’s a good idea
uh boxing’s Caitlyn Clark just that the the the out of nowhere somebody that uh could kind of train even somebody who could be like as big as Oscar was or Canelo was in the early years
it’s hard to to like I thought Ryan Garcia could have been that guy two years ago that’s that’s
that stock is done
that stock’s gone that stock is sold and the the problem with being able to predict that is that the amateur ranks are garbage like nobody comes out of the Olympics anymore like Oscar used that gold medal as a springboard you know even Wilder Oh wait yeah you want to get even more recent won a bronze medal bronze bomber use that
as a springboard like
men’s US Olympians
have not had a good run for decades now so I I don’t know you know there there’s a lot of teenagers I’ve seen coming up the ranks you know here’s one in the heavyweight division moses Atalma i don’t know if you heard that name before but he’s fought a bunch of like B-level guys and has knocked them all out he he has that he’s 20 years old and has a little Mike Tyson vibe to him little bit of a little bit of a Mike Tyson he’s knocking guys out early like very early he’s not super big either he’s like 6′ three but he’s got this ridiculous hand speed that guys just can’t keep up with he’s fighting in August against Dillian White um and Dillian White used to be a pretty good fighter in the UK but has long since passed his prime that is going to be another spectacular knockout for Mo Satama uh that that’s a guy I would watch he’s I don’t know about the Caitlin Clark potential because he’s a Brit and uh but like does he have Anthony Joshua potential in terms of popularity he might he might and if he fights over in the US more maybe he gets one of those Lennox Lewis type followings that made Lennox a star that’s a good one good name
all right Manx good luck in Anaheim uh I hope the Celtics don’t do any more trades after we just finished this podcast leading with Celtics trades but
I would I would uh just you know the the the Hower jersey you’ve got in your
house there oh man
might be might be a collector’s item maybe not before the draft but at some point this offseason could be a collector’s item all right thanks Manx good to see you
you got
All right that’s it for the podcast thanks to Chris Manx thanks to Eduardo and Gahal as always and don’t forget I’m coming right back after round one of the NBA draft on Wednesday night be ready for that don’t forget about Die Hard with a Vengeance the rewatchables it’s up and I will see you in 24 hours [Music]