Wiggy blaming Joe Mazzulla for the slow start??

WEEI-FM / WEEI

Wiggy blaming Joe Mazzulla for the slow start?? Was that the worst 3pt shooting game EVER? (min. 50 attempts) Tatum's absence is obvious- Thoughts on JB thus far? #NBA

Transcript

00:00the worst three-point shooting performance of all time by any team that attempted 50 or more

00:07threes in a basketball game. Wiggy was surprisingly somewhat critical of Joe Missoula earlier on the

00:16program. Shocked me, shocked Curtis. Because I think when I look at this basketball team,

00:22they're not the same team. And say what you want. And I like, listen, I think Joe Missoula is a

00:28great coach. But you have to coach. What does he do great? I think you have to coach differently when

00:33you don't have Jason Tatum. So what I would do, I told you, I would not start Pete Pritch. I would

00:39start Anthony Simons. He would be starting for me because I feel like there's a lot of pressure on

00:45Pete Pritch for him to like perform at a level that he might not be used to as a starter now.

00:52Well, I mean, he was the NBA. He was the sixth man of the NBA last year.

00:55Six, yeah. Six man. Yeah, but you have the expectation with everybody that in the absence

01:01of Jason Tatum, they're going to have to find a way to step up. Right, but not everybody can handle

01:06the new roles. You know, some guys are just better off coming off the bench. But I do think we need

01:11to give them more than, you know, less than 10 games. I mean, I am. We're getting close though.

01:17Yes, we're getting close. I am, but if this is Jason Tatum. I get it. And I listen. If Jalen was

01:24hurt and this was Jason Tatum, we would not be saying that. I was just going to say to you,

01:29as a Jalen Brown stan, I want to first say he's the reason why they're in these games that they're

01:34losing so closely, first and foremost. Secondly, Jason Tatum, his absence is as obvious as it's

01:43ever been. And I thought that we were going into this season and Jalen was going to immediately

01:47jump into that leadership role and be able to take over and be the leader that I believe he is

01:52and that we weren't going to miss Jason Tatum as much as we have been. So I was completely wrong

01:57on that. He was 100% right on that. But I do think that we need to give them a bit more time to

02:02figure each other out and also learn how to get into those new roles. I'm with you. If you want to

02:06put Simons in to start and take Peyton Pritchard out to start, that's fine. But I think Jalen Brown

02:12is going to figure it out. And all these other guys are going to figure it out as well.

02:17But my thing is like, Wiggy, you're talking about Joe Mazzoula. He hasn't changed anything.

02:21Their offense is the same offense and they don't have the players to hit the threes,

02:25which shows that anybody could coach the team. They're winning games, doing the exact things

02:31they do when they're losing them because the players on the floor have changed. That's what's

02:35gone on. To say that Mazzoula is a brilliant coach, this literally shows the opposite.

02:40Well, I'm saying he's not doing well this year. His coaching style.

02:43But he did the exact thing and they won games because he had Jason Taylor.

02:46But I also think his style of coaching is what unlocks players to play at a certain level

02:52and has them playing hard and granted, they haven't been doing that.

02:57I understand that when you look at basketball, when your superstar player goes down, it don't

03:04matter who the coach is. You're not going to be able to withstand that unless the other

03:08guys are able to step up. Who's the more talented team, the Jazz or the Celtics?

03:12The Celtics.

03:12Okay, so where was the game? In Utah or at home?

03:15It was at the Celtics. I got it.

03:16Okay, and they lost?

03:17Yeah.

03:17Okay, so it's not about the inferior opponent or the lack of talent on the team. They were

03:21more talented than the team they lost to.

03:23No, I understand that. But you can start to see, and I think what this shows is the difference

03:30that Jason Tatum makes as a player. Because not only does he help you with scoring, assisting,

03:36making everybody better, but he averages eight or nine rebounds a game. You're getting killed

03:41on the offensive boards.

03:43No, but how do you go into a season after an offseason in which you knew you were going

03:49to be without Jason Tatum for a considerable amount of time? And that means without his points

03:55and not figure out from a strategy perspective what you're going to do to make up for them

04:02short of just throwing up an additional 10 three-point attempts.

04:05And this is not like, if the Celtics had lost Tatum in the first game, who was the guard

04:11that got injured really horrible, that horrible injury years and years ago with Kyrie?

04:16Oh, you're talking about Gordon Hayward?

04:18Gordon Hayward. If this were like a Gordon Hayward injury in the first game of the season,

04:22I would say, totally understand it. Eight games in, this was thrust upon them in a way

04:26they couldn't prepare. They've had six months.

04:30Right. But see, if you want to look at it that way, then you have to start to look and go,

04:35well, the decisions that Brad and ownership made to ship out a lot of these guys and bring

04:42in a completely different team. Like your starting lineup went from, let's say you knew Tatum

04:48was going to be out because of injury. So you're at the starting lineup.

04:52Yeah, you don't have Drew Holiday.

04:53You don't have Drew Holiday. You don't have poor Zingas. You don't have Al Horford.

04:56Yeah, you don't have Al Horford. Yeah.

04:57But you have Chisholm.

04:59Right. So that's like, when you look at what your team was last year, and that meant

05:03Pete Pritch and Sam Hauser came off the bench.

05:06Well, that's why it shocked me when you said that you expected them to be a top three team.

05:11Well, because I looked at the rest.

05:12Finishing the season.

05:13Right. You can't have both of these things with you.

05:14No, because I looked at the rest of the Eastern Conference, and I'm like, oh, they still

05:18got enough talent. I was in the camp of, oh, Jalen Brown is going to have a great opportunity

05:22to put this team on his back and kind of do...

05:26Scoring, he has put this team on his back.

05:27Yeah, scoring, but you've got to be more than just a scorer.

05:30But I think the rest of it can come with time.

05:33Yeah, they don't have a lot.

05:35It's very early.

05:35So they either have to start winning basketball games or rush Jason Tatum back.

05:40But Greg, do you understand my frustration with this conversation?

05:42Wiggy says they're a top three team, and then he says you can't blame Missoula because

05:46they're not very good.

05:47No, I didn't say...

05:48I blame Missoula.

05:49What part of the conversation did you not hear me say, I blame Joe Missoula?

05:53I mean, I don't know how many different ways you want...

05:55You said you blame Brad Stevens for not putting a good team together.

05:57I said, I put a lot of this on Joe Missoula.

06:00I then said, if they knew about this six months ago, because you said that, I said, they should

06:06have been...

06:07Brad Stevens should have did a better job of building a team that would work towards Missoula

06:12his coaching style or not get rid of those guys.

06:15Or maybe they're tanking.

06:16Like, maybe we should appreciate the tank.

06:18No, we can't do that, because when they win, we get the call saying, Curtis, you're wrong

06:21about Missoula, and then they lose and they disappear.

06:23I don't think they're tanking.

06:23I think...

06:24I don't either.

06:25I think that Missoula hasn't done a good job as a coach in the sense of, we have to

06:29change our offensive philosophy.

06:31But he's doing exactly what he's always done.

06:33I understand that, Curtis.

06:36I said, without Tatum, you have to change that philosophy.

06:42But they were without Tatum when you said they were a top three team.

06:44But you did, and I said, because I was thinking he was going to change his philosophy, be a

06:48little bit more up-paced, play with energy.

06:51You have to change your philosophy when everybody on your starting five could knock down threes.

06:57When Al Horford could do it, when Porzingis could do it, when Drew Holiday could do it at

07:01times, you could say, oh, we could get away with it.

07:04But now your team is different.

07:06Josh Minard is not a three-point shooter.

07:09They launched 51 attempts at threes last night.

07:12They made 11 of them.

07:14That's not adjusting your style at all.

07:17And I am blaming Missoula.

07:18What part of that am I blaming?

07:20How many times have I said that?

07:21Yeah, you said yesterday.

07:22Am I the one who's a sickle in them?

07:23You pivoted to Brad Stevens.

07:25No, I pivoted to Brad Stevens because Curtis said, well, they should have been prepared about

07:29this six months ago.

07:30And I said, well, if they knew about this, then maybe Brad should have said, you know

07:35what?

07:35Maybe let's not give away Porzingis.

07:39Maybe let's not give away Drew Holiday or Al Horford.

07:44But they did.

07:45So when they did that and I saw them in the preseason, I said, okay, they're going to play

07:50with more energy.

07:51Get to the rim.

07:52This is Kelvin.

07:53Hey, Kelvin, what's up?

07:54Yeah, I was wrong about Brown.

07:59He needs to go.

08:00And you guys lost the opportunity to trade it for three or two good people.

08:05Now he showed that he's not a leader.

08:07Well, I mean, that's a whole different thing.

08:09Courtney's right.

08:10Like he's what he had last night, 36.

08:12Yeah.

08:12Like point wise, he's giving you the points.

08:15I just don't know that he's the guy to lead the basketball team.

08:18He is a leader.

08:18He's shown us over and over again that he is a leader on this team.

08:21So like, give me a break about that.

08:23Like, you got to get rid of him because he's a bad leader.

08:25He's a great leader.

08:26That's never been Jalen Brown's problem.

08:28People just don't like him.

08:30They don't like the way he leads.

08:31But Jalen Brown has always been a vocal leader.

08:33He's not leading this team.

08:35How do you know that?

08:35Oh, I feel like all the guys buy into him.

08:37I just look at the results.

08:38Like the results are not.

08:39Yeah, they're losing games.

08:40But then you hear all of the guys saying they're figuring each other out.

08:43That's not going to happen overnight.

08:44They're eight games in.

08:45I just think that jumping to conclusions saying Jalen Brown is a bad leader and you got to get

08:49rid of him is an absurd thing.

08:50I wouldn't say he's a bad leader, but he's he had 36 last night and he could score, but

08:56he was averaging over 30.

08:57No, he's averaging like 25.

08:59Oh, it's close.

09:00Right.

09:00So, so, so, so he's, he's, he can get you points, right?

09:04He can get you points, but the only thing you need from him, but you got in the absence

09:08of Jason, you need more from him.

09:10You need more points, but you need more assists.

09:12You need more rebounds.

09:13That's the difference.

09:14It's like Tatum could get you points, but he could also do other things.

09:18And I think that's the role where Jalen Brown has to be better.

09:22And he only had what?

09:22Three assists last night.

09:24Yeah.

09:24And Wiggs, the one thing that you have been spot on about as it pertains to Jalen is

09:28that no matter how many points Tatum had, if the Celtics lost, it would be a discussion

09:34about how Tatum didn't hit a final shot.

09:36Tatum didn't do enough.

09:37And that conversation has not been surrounding Jalen Brown in these games.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended