00:00There's nobody better to talk to about this than our own friend, Mr. John Corrales from Sports Illustrated.
00:05This guy is dialed in with the Celtics.
00:08As a matter of fact, that's why he's got the Locked On Celtics podcast as well.
00:12John Corrales, are you feeling the smoke?
00:14You feeling the smoke?
00:16I'm coughing.
00:17My eyes are watering.
00:18There's so much smoke.
00:20This is weird.
00:21You have to admit that 48 hours ago, like no one was talking about it.
00:25We kind of thought it was all dead.
00:26And then we just went, I mean, like zero to 60 all of a sudden.
00:31So this is what concerns me with this stuff.
00:34That's not how trade talks work.
00:36You know what I mean?
00:37Like, you don't sit there and be like, ah, they're out, they're out.
00:40Like, with all due respect to people who have legitimate conversations and hear legitimate things,
00:47I don't understand the concept of playing possum in trade talks.
00:51I don't understand what that does.
00:53Like, Brad, what does it do for a team to be like, ah, no, no, we're out.
00:57Ah, just kidding, Milwaukee.
00:59We're in.
01:00It doesn't make sense to me.
01:03What this feels like is, yes, is there interest from the Celtics?
01:10Sure.
01:11Brad Stevens is always going to pick up the phone because you never know when you're going to get
01:15a Nico Harrison calling Rob Palenka situation.
01:19So you always have to answer the phone.
01:21You always have to have the conversation.
01:23You can't just, the concept of laughing at somebody and hanging up doesn't happen.
01:29You can say, no, no, we're not going that far.
01:31But these conversations are forever flowing.
01:35Giannis has been on the market since pre-trade deadline.
01:39So none of this is a surprise.
01:40This, I may be wrong here.
01:43It feels like Milwaukee trying to put some pressure on Miami because who do these rumors
01:52benefit?
01:52Doesn't benefit the Celtics to have this suddenly out there.
01:56What good does this do them?
01:59What it does do Milwaukee a whole lot of good for Pat Riley, who's 81 and chasing probably
02:04his final star as a guy who runs a team in the NBA.
02:07A guy who hates the Celtics.
02:09It helps Milwaukee for him to hear, hey, Boston is here.
02:13They're going to hayward you again.
02:15And so I feel like this is classic posturing and Boston's whatever level of interest is
02:24being used to bump up Miami, either to get a third team in, to add more picks or something.
02:31Well, that's interesting, John.
02:33But do you think the Bill Simmons part of this, because that feels like that's coming from
02:37a Boston source, no?
02:38Or I guess it may well be.
02:41It may well be.
02:44There's, or I don't know, like that's, I don't know who Bill is talking to.
02:49And again, I am not trying to, this is not me trying to talk down about any of these reporters
02:55or personalities or anybody.
02:58They all have legitimate conversations.
03:00They're all, when they say something, it's not coming out of nowhere.
03:04I know that.
03:05But I don't know who's talking to Bill Simmons.
03:10He's a Boston guy, obviously.
03:12So you'd think he has Boston connections, but he's also a national guy now.
03:15So he has connections all over the NBA.
03:20So it's, again, it could be legitimate.
03:25There could be talks there.
03:27I just, there's, when I'm trying to add things up, it doesn't add up necessarily as smoothly
03:33for, from the Boston side as it does from the Milwaukee side.
03:36John, it sounds like you don't want Boston to really be involved in this.
03:39It sounds like you think it's a bad idea.
03:41It's not that I think it's a bad idea.
03:43Oh, well, I mean, I can't, I can't say anything other than that, though.
03:48So, look, you get Giannis Antetokounmpo, if he's healthy, he's an MVP candidate.
03:54Before he got hurt and he was hurt for most of the year, there was talk about, wow, Giannis
03:58is, Giannis is looking like an MVP again.
04:01But he's 32.
04:02He's had persistent calf issues.
04:04And that's scary, knowing what happened with Tatum.
04:07Anything calf in the NBA is just like mega red flag.
04:12And he's looking for a four-year extension at, you know, average annual value of $68 million
04:20a year that takes him into 36.
04:23Now, the Celtics aren't afraid to give a guy an extension.
04:26We saw him do it with Porzingis and Holliday and turn around and trade those guys when
04:29it got too expensive.
04:30So, I don't think that's going to scare them away.
04:33But it's also like, is that how you want to allocate your assets?
04:38When you have Jalen Brown there, who's a little younger and is a proven entity, you've won
04:45a championship with Jalen and Jason.
04:47So, again, I'm like 60-40 or 65-35, don't do it.
04:54But I understand and acknowledge the benefits of it.
05:00But it scares me, is basically what I'm saying.
05:03Okay.
05:04Well, then, John, is it possible for this team to be able to put together something before
05:11the season starts that would be able to beat that Knicks team the way that they're constituted?
05:17Like, is there any other, without getting rid of the two Js, is there anything else that
05:21they can do?
05:22Yeah.
05:23I mean, look, they have a few different tools, right?
05:25They have the ability to use their full mid-level exception.
05:30So, and the way the CBA has created this kind of vacuum in that $20 million type of free agent,
05:39I think of like a Kobe White with Charlotte.
05:41Now, he can get 20-plus million if he stays with his team.
05:43But if they're not willing to pay that, then the open market kind of tops out at the full
05:50mid-level.
05:51So, the Celtics have the ability to add a really good kind of score.
05:56Maybe they bring back Anthony Simons.
05:58That type of player, that level of player at the $15 million, and then they can, I think,
06:05use Sam Hauser either to clear some space to use the full or most of their traded player
06:12exception or package Hauser with somebody else to get a player in.
06:15They have tools to build around Tatum and Brown.
06:20And also, they have time.
06:22I want to make sure that people understand that you don't have to get it all done in
06:26July.
06:27You can wait and see what Shireman and Gonzalez and Kada and what those guys look like after
06:33a summer to work on their games and elevate their games.
06:35You can see what they've done and then take one of these tools into the next season.
06:41And like if you're talking about the Knicks, the Knicks were up and down.
06:44They were a three seed.
06:45They were a four seed.
06:46And they didn't quite figure things out.
06:48People were talking about them losing to the Atlanta Hawks.
06:51They were down 2-1 to the Hawks.
06:52And then, boom, in the first round, things clicked.
06:55So the Celtics have a lot of time to get through the next trade deadline to add more to their
07:01team.
07:01So they have tools and time.
07:04So they could go all in now, but they don't have to.
07:08Does the neighbor's rice always smell better?
07:11That's what Jalen Brown put on his old Instagram or Twitter or whatever he was using it on when
07:17Bill Simmons came out with that.
07:18Which, by the way, I don't even – I've never smelled my neighbor's rice.
07:21I don't even know if rice smells like anything.
07:24He's in China.
07:25He's knee-deep in Chinese Proverbs right now.
07:28So he's really immersing himself in the culture over there.
07:32Okay, great.
07:33Go do your thing.
07:35Yeah.
07:36I don't know.
07:37I don't know what he's – I feel like there's a battle between the stuff that's being reported
07:45and the stuff that's actually been said.
07:48And there's equal levels of validity to both.
07:52Like, obviously, if people are saying things around the league, there's something to that.
07:56But Jalen has said he wants to stay.
08:00Brad Stevens said in that – everybody's quoting his press conference where he said,
08:06we need somebody to get to the rim.
08:08Like, well, Giannis is that guy.
08:09In that same press conference, he also said, when we're whole, we're a good basketball team,
08:14so we're going to work around the margins.
08:16He said that as well.
08:18So that flies in the face – people are making a leap, but they are ignoring the fact of what
08:23he said.
08:24So I think Jalen might be having some fun with a lot of this.
08:29That's my take.
08:30I think Jalen is just kind of like, if it happens, it happens.
08:33If it does – I don't know exactly if he's off doing his own thing.
08:37But, yeah, that's kind of where I land on Jalen.
08:41John, did that game four give you any flashbacks, palpitations, remind you anything in particular
08:46watching the Knicks come back like that?
08:49Yeah, yeah, game one.
08:51That was very game one of last year's series against the Knicks
08:55where the Celtics quick-triggered a lot of three-pointers and didn't work the clock,
09:00didn't work for a better offense and get better shots.
09:03Even if they were still three-pointers, the Spurs could have gotten better shots.
09:07They took too many shots with 19, 18, 17 seconds on the shot clock.
09:12When you're nursing a 29-point lead or a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter,
09:15the last thing you want to do is give another team extra possessions.
09:19By shooting at 16, you're doing that.
09:23So you want to run good offense.
09:24You don't want to stall.
09:26You want to run good offense and get good shots because every time you score,
09:29that negates a New York possession.
09:31So it looked very similar to game one Celtics-Knicks last year.
09:35All right, well, John Corrales, here's to a three-game winning streak
09:39for the San Antonio Spurs that will never happen.
09:41But how amazing would it be?
09:44Listen, all you got to do is win one game.
09:46You just got to win one.
09:48Don't let us win one, as they say.
09:50Don't let us win one.
09:51And then there you go.
09:52The famous man once said.
09:54That's right.
09:54Well, John Corrales, great stuff.
09:57We're going to keep an eye on this smoke that's just coming everywhere.
10:00Who knows what's going to happen?
10:01It'll be an interesting couple of weeks.
10:03There's no question about that.
10:04But Sports Illustrated is the place where you can check out Mr. Corrales.
10:08Always great having you on, bud.
10:09Thanks for calling us today.
10:11Thanks, gentlemen.
10:11Appreciate it.
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