00:00 I am a huge fan of Drew Holliday on many levels,
00:03 all the work that he does in the community
00:04 and with his wife and with his family,
00:06 and not to mention everything that he does on the court.
00:10 But I agree with you in that the money thing
00:12 doesn't make sense, particularly how much they have invested
00:16 in their top three at the moment,
00:17 the Celtics and Jason, Jalen, and now Kristaps.
00:20 And not to mention that he can opt out after next year.
00:23 So I am one for putting all of your chips in,
00:27 but I think that, and I do believe,
00:29 that the Celtics will do their due diligence
00:31 and go after Drew Holliday if it's at the right price.
00:34 But I would imagine that the Celtics price
00:37 is very different from what this bidding war
00:39 is going to turn into.
00:41 The thing about it, if they do acquire Drew,
00:43 is it goes against everything that we have been told
00:46 all off season.
00:47 And that is, this is Jason and Jalen's team.
00:51 They need to step up into those leadership roles.
00:54 They need to be the ones on the floor,
00:56 directing traffic, calling plays,
00:58 being the guys with the ball in their hands.
01:00 And this is their team.
01:02 And we have seen repeatedly what happens,
01:04 and it's to no one's fault,
01:06 but you brought in Kemba Walker,
01:08 who was as deferential as a former all-star could be
01:13 at the point guard position.
01:15 And it was still too much.
01:17 Marcus Smart was named starting point guard,
01:20 and apparently it was still too much.
01:23 They want the Jays to be the guys.
01:26 They are the guys, and now it is their time
01:29 to take that mantle for this franchise
01:33 and run with it and get to banner number 18.
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01:50 Win or lose.
01:52 So, a few things.
01:53 I feel, well, one, Ev, I mean, you would know,
01:57 you do these shows every single week with me,
01:59 and Abby, I'm sure we've had some of these conversations
02:02 as well over the course of the off-season,
02:03 but I just feel honestly a little bit vindicated
02:06 in the sense that I have been saying for months,
02:09 for months, that the Celtics are still looking
02:12 to trade Malcolm Brockton and still more than open
02:15 to the idea, if not outright dangling him.
02:18 Doesn't mean he's going to get traded,
02:19 but the fact that all of these reports,
02:21 again, Himmelsbach, Winhorst, you name it,
02:22 the fact that all of this is happening,
02:24 like I haven't been making it up, folks.
02:26 Malcolm Brockton is no sure thing to be here
02:29 come media day or come mid-training camp
02:31 or come opening night or certainly mid-season.
02:35 This is a whole other conversation.
02:36 The Celtics could be looking to move him in picks
02:38 for some sort of a trade deadline upgrade,
02:40 but that's not the same thing.
02:42 I'm talking about the here and now,
02:44 he could absolutely be moved.
02:45 The other part of this, which is, well,
02:48 sort of goes in series.
02:49 I've said, if you're going to trade Brockton,
02:50 you're going to do it for a guard.
02:52 Who's it going to be?
02:52 Well, Drew Holliday is suddenly available.
02:54 We didn't know that he was going to be.
02:56 And the other part of this, and Ev,
02:57 I have said this ever since the moment
03:00 MarketSmart was traded, and I got a lot of pushback
03:02 from you and from others about this.
03:05 I am not certain that Brad Stephenson Company,
03:07 that front office, is sold on Derek White's
03:10 starting point guard.
03:12 I think they love Derek White, don't get me wrong,
03:13 but I don't think they are sold on him being
03:15 the starting point guard for this team,
03:17 which again, just adds another layer of credence
03:20 to the possibility that they could go out
03:22 and acquire a Drew Holliday.
03:24 As far as whether or not they do this,
03:26 I think that some of what Abby just hit on
03:29 is bringing up the potential opt-out 100%.
03:34 What that tells me is that if, in fact, a move happens,
03:38 and I'm not even saying it's likely,
03:39 but if, in fact, a move happens,
03:41 I think you're looking at Brockton,
03:42 you're looking at Horford.
03:43 And I know Horford's a fan favorite.
03:45 He's an internal leader and all of that.
03:46 He's great, just a guy you want on your team.
03:50 No doubt about it.
03:51 But when you start to think about the contracts
03:53 and age and protections for Rob Williams going forward,
03:57 the fact that Holliday can go,
04:00 you want to protect yourself as much as you can,
04:01 and you want to have Rob under contract.
04:03 Horford, contract's coming up,
04:06 and hell, he could come back and re-sign again
04:08 if he wanted to.
04:09 And so, if you're looking at that potential
04:12 opt-out situation with a Drew Holliday,
04:15 you can kind of recoup in that lane going forward.
04:18 - Just another thing, another part of this to consider.
04:21 I just wonder if, in fact,
04:24 I don't know, put a little bow on this, Abby.
04:28 I wonder how satisfied the front office is
04:31 with the makeup of this roster
04:32 that is absolutely a championship-caliber roster,
04:36 but do they feel the need to respond
04:38 to what the Bucs just did,
04:40 to where they now, all due respect to the Jays,
04:43 it is now the Bucs that have the best one-two punch
04:45 in the entire NBA.
04:47 (upbeat music)
04:49 - My response to that is,
04:55 I think that this front office,
04:59 led by Brad Stevens over the past two seasons,
05:02 has shown they are not afraid to tinker, to make moves.
05:06 We saw deals at the deadline
05:08 with Derek White two years ago,
05:11 and I agree with you in that
05:15 no one on this roster, aside from Jason Tatum
05:18 and now Jalen Brown, due to his contract, is untouchable.
05:21 And so I think that, and Brad said this
05:25 when he was speaking to Gary Washburn,
05:27 that there is no question,
05:29 when you are the Boston Celtics,
05:32 there is a sense of urgency every season.
05:35 Their only goal is to win championships.
05:38 And I believe that Brad Stevens is going to do
05:41 what he believes is necessary to do that,
05:43 and he's not going to,
05:45 and it's not that you don't care about people's feelings
05:49 or that he's worried about how Malcolm Brogdon feels
05:52 and how he's gonna play,
05:53 it's that you need to do what's best for your team.
05:55 Bill Belichick says it all the time.
05:56 I make decisions based on what is best for my team,
05:59 and I believe that that's what Brad Stevens is doing
06:01 and the mentality that he has,
06:03 and he's not going to operate out of fear or intimidation
06:08 from what is going on on the outside.
06:12 - Well, to your point about the emotion,
06:13 I mean, he traded Kemba Walker,
06:14 who is just on a personal level,
06:17 I'm sure he didn't want to do.
06:19 He traded Marcus Smart, which again,
06:20 I'm sure on a personal level, he didn't want to do.
06:23 I don't think Malcolm Brogdon, next to those two guys,
06:25 is gonna give him any pausa.
06:27 - I do think Al Horford is one of his guys, though.
06:31 - Yeah, absolutely. - So that would.
06:33 - I do want to push back on this trade idea, Koff,
06:35 because we've talked about, again,
06:37 the lack of big man depth.
06:38 What is your solution there?
06:41 If you're gonna go trade for Drew Holiday
06:43 and you're gonna trade away Al Horford,
06:45 what is your solution to that problem?
06:47 Because there's not a lot of big guys walking around here.
06:50 Just the slim pickings at this point.
06:52 You can't, again, how many times have we said on this show
06:56 that it's risky to even go into this season
06:59 with those three guys?
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