Mailbag and predictions for Celtics season | You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell - video Dailymotion

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The Celtics signed Lonnie Walker IV to a training camp deal, and NBA Media Day is just a few weeks away. Celtics reporter Noa Dalzell goes live for a Sunday mailbag episode of You Got Boston to answer all your questions, including forecasting predictions for the 2024-25 Celtics season.  CLNS Media is Powered by:   Prize Picks - PrizePicks.com/CLNS  Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100!   Gametime - https://gametime.co  Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.  Elevate your style game on and off the course with the PXG Spring Summer 2024 collection. Head over to https://PXG.com/GARDENREPORT and save 10% on all apparel.  Nutrafol Men! Take the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to https://Nutrafol.com/MEN and enter the promo code GARDEN!   #celtics #NBA #BostonCeltics The CLNS Media Network is the leading provider for video/audio content. CLNS is a fully credentialed member of the media with access to all NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB teams & venues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  CLNS' rebuilt their YouTube community in less than 12 months, during a pandemic that attacked sports. Wondering how? Find out here (and support our channel) - https://www.tubebuddy.com/clnsmedia  Visit the Official Home of CLNS Sports Coverage -  https://clnsmedia.com  Twitter - https://twitter.com/CLNSMedia Celtics - https://twitter.com/celticsclns Patriots - https://twitter.com/patriotsclns Bruins - https://twitter.com/bruinsclns Red Sox - https://twitter.com/redsoxclns Non-Sports - https://twitter.com/northstation Facebook - http://facebook.com/clnsmedia INSTA - http://Instagram.com/clnsmedia INSTA Celtics - http://Instagram.com/celticsclns INSTA History - http://Instagram.com/nbahistoryclns

Transcript

00:00What's up everyone, this is Noah Dalzell and I'm here with a

00:29Sunday mailbag episode of You Got Boston. And I do know that today is a Monday, but I am

00:35still going to do it today because this is technically Sunday. I feel like Labor Day weekend

00:40is unique in that sense. Trying to make sure my audio here is good. So yeah, really excited to

00:45be here. Really excited to be literally like three weeks in a day away from Celtics Media Day. So

00:50I feel like that was hardly an off season. So yeah, that's the good news. Honestly,

00:56I think for me, the fact that we have so little downtime here, it's been a lot of fun.

01:01And I see, first I have a question here, do I cover the WNBA professionally as well? So yeah,

01:04that's actually my other job. So I do both concurrently. So for me, this is not really

01:08an off season. I'm mostly focusing on WNBA right now. And then we'll be kind of switching over to

01:15the NBA more during the season when the games pick up there. But yeah, it's been a lot of fun

01:21to be able to cover both. I know a lot of people are kind of entering the WNBA space as fans as

01:25well. So always feel free to follow along in that coverage as well. For those of you that don't know

01:31me, my name is Nodal Zell. I work with CLNS Media. I do this podcast a couple of times a week,

01:36New Bad Boston. During the season, it's going to be mostly going live and going from places. I'll

01:41be on the road covering most of the away games. And we'll be at practices, events, things like

01:46that. For now, just doing it from home. I have moved my computer so that you can't see my shoe

01:51stand. I was getting lots of negative feedback about the shoe stand. So you can no longer see

01:56the shoes. Hopefully that helps people's viewing experience. I know it's still not the most optimal

02:02background, but we'll get there. So as always, this is a Q&A episode. I did an episode earlier

02:07in the week specifically about the Lonnie Walker training camp deal, which I'm super excited about.

02:13So feel free if you want a full 30 minutes on that, feel free to check that out. In the meantime,

02:19because this is a Q&A, I'll be taking cues from all of you. So feel free to submit any questions

02:24you have about the Celtics, about the offseason, about NBA things in general. If you have any

02:30oppressing WNBA questions, always happy to answer those as well. But we'll keep this mostly focused

02:35on the Celtics for now. And I also just want to spend some time today, depending on how many

02:40questions we have, just previewing next season and just kind of discussing what we can expect as far

02:45as the rotation, as far as individual players growth and things like that. I think that it's a

02:51very unique situation that the Celtics are in. The fact that you have players that are, you know,

02:56a roster that's pretty much coming back from a championship. I don't know that in my lifetime,

03:01I've seen that type of continuity in basketball and in seeing an entire team

03:06resign effectively after winning a championship in their prime. And so, yeah, excited about that.

03:12I think that'll be a lot of fun as well, to be able to see people continue to get more and more

03:17comfortable in their roles. Every year, there's usually a learning curve for a number of players.

03:21And this year, I think everybody's going to be kind of in the role that they are used to, for the

03:25most part, and just kind of continuing to grow in that role. So, you know, I do think the Celtics

03:31are going to do great this year. I think that they'll win the championship again, but I don't,

03:36I would never say that confidently because it's so, so hard to win and it's so hard to win back

03:40to back. But I've gotten that question a little bit, just as far as like my general prediction.

03:45I don't think they're going to be the best seed in the Eastern Conference. I think they'll probably

03:48be like a two seed, but I do think they're going to come out of the East and ultimately win the

03:52championship. That's my very soft prediction as far as, you know, months before the season is

03:58even starting. And then, yeah, I think that the hope and the goal is that you stay healthy,

04:04right? That's the number one most, you know, top priority when you're talking about the Celtics

04:08roster is that, you know, you obviously have the talent. You've already shown you've had the talent

04:13before. So the main thing is you have enough, enough, you know, a motivation and cohesion,

04:20you know, cohesion to not break up, you know, not break up what you did last year. And that means

04:24like, you don't want to stop playing team basketball. You don't want individual guys

04:27to be overly concerned about their own individual pursuits and things like that. So that's the first

04:33thing. Then once you're healthy, you know, once you have that and you're healthy, like I do feel

04:37really good about this, this team's chances to repeat. And so that, that'll be the talk of the

04:42year, you know, the kind of defending the title and seeking out a banner 19, which is my entire

04:48life. I feel like I always, it was always banner 18. So I'm sure it's going to be hard to even

04:52adjust to say that. But yeah, so I guess that's my initial, that's my initial prediction is a

05:00championship. It all starts on October 22nd, that's opening night against the Knicks. You'll

05:06have the ring ceremony, the banner raising. Right now, two tickets to get in is I think around

05:13$800, $900 after fees. That's like the cheapest entry. So it's going to be expensive. I do think

05:20it's pretty worthwhile just because my philosophy has always been with playoff games, you can spend

05:24a lot of money. And then if they lose, it like really sucks. And then you feel like you shouldn't

05:29have gone and you wasted your money. But with the banner raising, it's like, you can go and you know

05:35the banner raising is going to happen, even if they lose that game. It's like, it's still a

05:38really cool experience. So not to tell people to go to that game. But that's been my personal

05:42philosophy. I bought my dad and my brother tickets to that game. So that was my calculus. So in any

05:48case, we have media day in three weeks on media day, they'll be training camp for like a week,

05:52I'll be going live every single day that week and answer questions kind of telling you guys the feel

05:57and the behind the scenes of how everything's going. And then after that, we'll be going back to

06:02um, you know, regular game playoff coverage. And I'm not going to Abu Dhabi, that's like the one

06:06trip I'm not going on. So I will not be in the two preseason games that they always have against

06:11the Nuggets. So for those of you that don't know, which I'm assuming most normal people don't know

06:15this, but Celtics and the Nuggets are playing in Abu Dhabi in the preseason. And there's,

06:19for that reason, they're starting preseason a week early. And so there's gonna be like a

06:23an extra media week for them. And then the rest of the NBA starts a week after that. So

06:27that'll be just a kind of a wrinkle for this year as they're going to Abu Dhabi to play in the

06:32preseason games, which initially I thought those games were going to be like final, you know,

06:38final rematch games like that. I think maybe the NBA thought that as well a little bit. So

06:42obviously the Nuggets did not make the finals, but still a really good game between, you know,

06:47a really good series between two of the best teams in the league nonetheless. So I'm gonna

06:52start at the top and go through questions, feel free to submit them. I've been going through like

06:56almost every question recently because we haven't had like too many to take and I'll do like 30

07:01minutes today. So hopefully we'll get to a bunch of these. First question here is who is the most

07:08unique personality on the Celtics? Unique is always an interesting one because on one hand,

07:13it's like, you know, what is unique? Is it just like a little bit more unusual? I think Jalen

07:18Brown in a sense is unique in just the way that he carries himself, the things that he cares about,

07:22the things that he talks about. He's always like up to something. I don't know if you guys have

07:26followed his off season at all, but he's, I feel like he's been to like 12 different countries and

07:32dropped a rap song and just has been doing a whole lot. So he's unique in the sense that

07:37you never really know what you're going to get from him just as far as media interactions.

07:40Sometimes I talk, sometimes, you know, he comes to the postgame presser and you think he's going

07:43to be all mad because he had a bad loss and he's like, not at all. Other times they won,

07:47but he didn't like their attention to detail or something. So you kind of never know what

07:50to expect with him. So he stands out to me as just a guy that's like maybe less like a little

07:55bit more of an unusual personality and not in a bad way, but just I think about a guy like Sam

08:00Houser, he's just like a very normal, normal guy in a sense. There was a meet and greet event with

08:06him a couple of weeks back and I was watching him interact with the fans and I was like, okay,

08:10like he just seems like literally a guy like any other guy that you've met, you know, he doesn't

08:14seem like a celebrity or anything like that. So I'll give that one to Jalen Brown.

08:20I'm assuming there's going to be a lot of Lonnie Walker questions and I'm already seeing a lot of

08:24Lonnie Walker questions. So I'll start there. I guess for those of you that didn't watch my

08:31episode earlier in the week about the Lonnie Walker signing, I'll just say a little bit about

08:36how I feel. I think it's a brilliant move just because the upside is totally there. As people

08:41know that no Lonnie Walker, he's a very capable scorer. He's averaged almost 10 points per game

08:45on his career. He shot 38% from three last season from Brooklyn and he's like a microwave scorer.

08:51Like he can go check into games and at certain stretches, like really dominate and change the

08:55complexion of games. And so to me, like he's somebody that the upside is there, you know,

09:00that offensively he can provide you a huge boost. And then defensively, I think he's a little bit

09:06more of a question mark. The numbers aren't amazing. But again, if this is a training camp

09:10deal, so like there's literally no risk which is why I haven't seen a ton of criticism about

09:15the Lonnie Walker signing, but there should be literally none because there's nothing on the

09:20line here. It's not even the 15th roster spot, which initially when Rose reported the signing,

09:25it looked like it was the 15th roster spot, which in that case you lose a little bit of flexibility

09:31and maybe if Porzingis is taking longer, you can't sign that 15th bait without making any moves.

09:38But yeah, I think the reality is though, is that expectations have to be somewhat tempered just

09:42because of the fact that Lonnie Walker is literally, you know, he wasn't signed by any

09:46team in the entire NBA. So it's like, obviously if he was this well-rounded, all-around player

09:51that has no flaws to his game, then like somebody would have picked him up and not for a veteran

09:55minimum or a training camp deal, but for a multi-year contract. But I also do think,

10:01and I say this a lot, it's like, I think there's so much luck in being able to put together an

10:04NBA career. And there's so much luck in being able to make it. And like, I look at a guy like

10:10Sam Houser, like he easily could have not made it in the NBA, but he was in the right place at

10:15the right time, surrounded with the right people and made the right adjustments and improvements

10:19to this game. And next thing you know, he's signing a multi-year $40 million deal. So it's

10:24like that's, you know, you've made it at that point, but in another world, like a couple of

10:28things go differently for him. And next thing you know, he's unable to even stay in the NBA for more

10:33than a few months. So I think Lonnie Walker has had not been able to find the right space, but

10:38I do think that if Boston ends up being a good fit for him, like this could be one of the things

10:43that turns his career around. He's very well known for the fourth quarter of game four of

10:48the Western Conference semifinals in 2023, in which he was on the Lakers and he was against

10:54the Warriors. And in the fourth quarter, he checks in scoreless, scores 15 points that fourth quarter,

10:59Lakers win that game, ultimately win that series, advance to the conference finals. And so

11:04he has impacted games at moments, but he's never been able to carve out a consistent role. And

11:09I guess, Neil, to answer your question, do you think Lonnie Walker will be backing up

11:12Drew or the one or white of the two? I view him less. I think I view more of the two than a one,

11:20but it's also, it's, you know, it's, I think Drew and Derek are both kind of interchangeable.

11:25And I think offensively they've run through Derek White as a playmaker more than Drew Holiday for

11:31most of the year. So it's certainly not as binary as that, but he probably won't be an early bench

11:37rotation player, regardless. I view Peyton Pritchard as the guy off the bench. It's going

11:41to come in and run that second unit. He embraced that role last year, and I think he's only going

11:45to get better at it as he's now has a year of experience under his belt playing that very

11:49specific role. And so I think I view Lonnie Walker as more someone that can provide a scoring punch

11:55for that second unit, because right now you have Sam Hauser, who obviously can shoot the

12:00lights out, but he's not a huge shot creator. And then you have Pritchard who can definitely

12:04score, but it does depend sometimes on how he's being guarded. And you don't want him to be like

12:07the only guy on the court that can create his own shot. And there have been moments like in

12:11the late game situations where they start out by 20, where it's like, they're struggling to get

12:15a basket because it's just Pritchard is the only one really generating. So I do think in general,

12:19Lonnie Walker is going to be able to provide that scoring punch for the Celtics, especially

12:23alongside a guy like Peyton Pritchard and Sam Hauser. So it's all to me about whether he can

12:27hold up defensively. And if he can, he'll carve out a spot in his rotation. And, you know, first

12:32thing he has to do is make the roster because contrary to the initial understanding around

12:36this signing is that this is not a 15th roster spot. So this is not a guaranteed thing at all.

12:41So we'll see what happens there. Training camp, that'll definitely be the biggest story in training

12:46camp as far as whether or not he makes that team, which just goes to show you how little

12:51stories there are right now, because ultimately, like, you know, that everybody else is going to

12:56be back and, you know, all familiar faces. So that's pretty cool as well.

13:01A question here from Southsiders. What's the main threat? Who's the main threat in the East?

13:06So it's a tough one, because I feel like I always, I always like to disclaim my

13:13opinions, predictions, just because there's so much that can change so quickly. But

13:16if I had to pick right now in early September, you know, before we even have

13:20preseason or anything, I will say, I think the Knicks are the greatest threat. I don't think

13:25we ever saw them at full strength last year in the playoffs. I think they're only getting better

13:28individually. It's going to come down to how Julius Randle can accentuate that starting group,

13:35because they were really good without him in the playoffs. And I thought that they

13:38should have beaten Indiana if it wasn't for the fact that they literally,

13:41they were dealt just the worst injury hand in that series, just in the playoffs in general.

13:46If they can stay healthy and you have, you know, Josh Hart doing what he does,

13:50Jalen Brunson playing at almost an MVP caliber, you know, level. They, you know, have an OG on

13:56Anobi and McCowbridge is two good, you know, three and D wings plus like they're more than

14:01just three and D wings. Like they really have a good roster and I'm a little biased. I mean,

14:05we're all biased in our opinions, but I think they have a lot of players that I really like.

14:09So I think that's maybe where some of my, my positive view of them comes, but they're the

14:14team that does stand out. Obviously there's other teams in the East that are going to be

14:18formidable. I think the Pacers are being overlooked, to be honest with you. I think

14:21everybody is kind of like neglecting that, that run that they had. They were the best team. I

14:26thought the public's played in that entire post-season run last year. They were the most

14:29well-rounded team and they had an offense that was just incredibly hard to contain, even for a good

14:34versatile defense like the Celtics. And so Pacers are up there, but I don't view them as much of a

14:38threat as the Knicks. The Bucks, I do think people are overlooking a bit as well, just because

14:43last year they never really came to fruition. You never had Giannis and Dame in the playoffs.

14:48They never had Giannis at all in the playoffs. And then even when, during the season, when they

14:52were available, they didn't look like the Bucks that people expected them to be when that roster

14:55came together. So they're another one that people are probably overlooking that I do think they'll

14:59win at least a playoff series, if not more. And then the 76ers, obviously, you know, Tyrese,

15:05Maxie, and Joelle, and Beat, and now Paul George, you can't ignore them. I still, I still don't

15:11believe in them in the way that maybe it's the Celtics bias of just seeing how the Celtics have

15:16beaten them over the years. But Maxie somewhat, I think, is on the brink of becoming a real superstar.

15:21So he starts, if he starts the year kind of taking another leap after he already took a

15:26leap a year prior, that'll make a tremendous difference as well. So yeah, those are the

15:32teams. I don't know if I'm forgetting anybody, the Knicks, the 76ers, the Pacers. Who else did I just

15:39have? And then the Heat, I mean, I always have them in the back of my mind. But I think right

15:43now you have to just imagine that they just don't have enough to compete with the Celtics. So we're

15:49gonna hear from our friends at GameTime quickly. And I guess I mentioned, GameTime can get you to

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17:59Great, so I'm going to continue going through some questions here. I got a question from Tom

18:03Coolidge. Happy Labor Day to everybody. I appreciate all the kind messages. It has been a very nice,

18:08relaxing day. Not having to move, so always grateful for that. Question, how do you think

18:13Lonnie impacts Pritchard and Springer's minutes off the bench? Will Walker defend well enough to

18:17play? I think, Tom, you answered your own question a little bit there. I think if he doesn't defend

18:22well enough to play, you have two... Springer, who I think is a very, very talented plus defender,

18:28and Pritchard, who is a guy that has held his own defensively, they're there and they're

18:32available. And so the question for me is like, say Lonnie Walker makes his roster,

18:37obviously Springer has the defensive edge and Lonnie Walker has the offensive edge,

18:42but it's kind of like which one of those players can fill in the gap and make that leap.

18:47I was encouraged very much so by Springer's one summer league game. I was also encouraged by his

18:52one G League game that I saw play this year. And I've also been encouraged by the snippets of him

18:56shooting around that I've seen before games and just getting shots on the practice. That being

19:01said, all of that, you don't know how that's going to translate to actual basketball. And so

19:05with Springer, I really do hope that he can find a role. I'm a huge Springer fan. I always like to

19:11admit my biases here. I think that someone like him who can just defend at the level that he can

19:15defend at, you have to find a place for him. I really would love for them to find a way for him

19:20to contribute on the court. But yeah, Lonnie Walker just complicates things. And this is the way that

19:26it goes in the NBA. Nobody's spot is safe. Not that Springer even really had a spot last year,

19:30but I was foreseeing like maybe he comes in and plays some minutes when Derek White and Drew

19:35Hall, they have a little bit of a lighter load this year, especially early on. I think there

19:38will be some rest days and rest games. So Lonnie makes things more complicated, but it's the same

19:44way that, you know, when Sam Houser was signed, it's like they signed Steve Mihalic last year.

19:48And it's like, is that going to, is that going to oust Sam Houser? Like it didn't obviously,

19:52but had he come in and his defense was not, didn't make an improvement and his shot was off,

19:57like there's another guy that's there ready to go. And so you want that kind of flexibility

20:02on the bench. You don't want to be like, I only have one option. It's the bench score,

20:05right? I only have one guy off the bench that can come in and defend, right? Like you want

20:09to have multiple options. And I think it's a good thing for the Celtics roster, but certainly

20:12individual players might be, might lose their minutes if he makes these leaps that need to

20:16happen. And right. And starting with making the roster, which obviously it's not a given,

20:20although I would predict that he will. I've got a, I got a Connecticut Sun here question here.

20:28I don't know if people follow the Connecticut Sun. If you don't, I do recommend, this is the

20:32time to tune in. So Connecticut Sun is the WNBA team based in Mohegan Sun arena, which is about

20:37two hours from Boston. So it's your team. If you're a Boston Celtics fan, this is your associated WNBA

20:42team. They traded for Marina Mabry last, last two months ago. Now it was in July during the

20:49Olympic break for the WNBA. She's a almost 15 point per game score. And I, I will just say,

20:56I don't want to talk about this too much in case this is not something that people are plugged

21:00into, but I think Marina is, I wasn't of the belief that the Sun could win a championship

21:06based on the roster they had earlier. I think that just offensively, they just lacked a score

21:11and they lacked somebody, especially when things got bogged down offensively in late game situations,

21:16they just needed another piece. I think she is that piece. So I love her fit and defensively.

21:20She's been a surprise. Honestly, I hadn't watched enough of her to realize how much of a plus

21:24defender she is. So I do think that there are legitimate contenders now. They're not my pick

21:28for winning the championship. I still think the Liberty have the edge, but Marina has been a

21:32brilliant mid-season trade, almost like a Derek White type trader. I think that she changes the

21:37complexion of what they can do moving forward. And that's my plug also for WNBA. If you're

21:44interested in this and watching real high stakes basketball right now, WNBA playoffs started like

21:50three weeks. So it'll be kind of running concurrently throughout the NBA pre-season.

21:54And then you have all year just watching NBA. So highly recommend. Question here from Daniel.

22:00Do you think the players like Lonnie want to come to Boston with Brad in charge? They have a chance

22:03to win and if they get traded, Brad usually sends the player to a good situation. Absolutely. I do

22:08think that the Celtics have a really good reputation right now, especially with Brad

22:12Stevens at the helm. There's a good track record of guys, A, getting put in good

22:17situations like Daniel says here. Lamar Stevens, Zlano Banton, they were both traded mid-season

22:23last year after coming to the Celtics as free agents. And both of them, I think, landed in spots

22:29that were good for them and they were able to excel for the second half of the season. So I

22:34think that that's a legitimate thing. But above that, I think there's examples like Zvima Heilig.

22:39I mentioned this earlier this week when talking about Lonnie Walker. When you see a guy ride the

22:43bench all year and then go sign a big deal, you know, send a $15 million contract, it shows like,

22:49hey, like just being a part of a championship team and contributing even in limited doses

22:53can raise your stock. And I think they have a really good development program. You've seen guys

22:58like Derek White, Bran Williams, not be great shooters and then come in and be much better

23:03shooters. They weren't, they were both good shooters, but like they have a really good

23:05development program as well. So those are the confluence of factors why someone might want to

23:09come to Boston. Certainly you'd rather come to a championship caliber organization than

23:13an organization that's been embroiled in years of losing or controversy or whatnot. So

23:19yeah, I think it helps. I also, I'm curious, one thing I want to investigate a little bit more is

23:24Lonnie Walker's relationship with Derek White because they were teammates in San Antonio.

23:28And I know Derek White is like probably one of the biggest cheerleaders fans of the organization. So

23:32certainly that helps as well.

23:39Question here, do you think tired legs played any role in JT's poor shooting at the end of

23:43the season and in the Olympics? First of all, definitely. I think always play the factor.

23:51Whether it was the biggest factor, I would, this is conjecture because, you know, I'm not,

23:56I don't know exactly what's going on with the shooting slot, but I would guess it's not the

24:01number one contributing factor. I would imagine it's more his confidence and then just like in

24:06the Olympics, especially not being able to get into rhythm. I've talked about this a lot, but

24:10Jason Tatum is a rhythm shooter. He is somebody that is able to get really, really hot. And all

24:16of a sudden he looks like an elite shooter. And then there are times where he just doesn't look

24:19like that at all. And obviously everybody wants to get into rhythm. It's why you warm up. It's

24:23why you shoot after practice, but he's on the extreme end of that spectrum of like how much

24:28you need to be in rhythm. And I think for that reason, the Olympics and especially the Olympics

24:31of this year, where he had this really inconsistent role and all this spotlight and discussion around

24:36it. And then some games he's playing, some games he's not playing, he's checking in at different

24:40times. It made a big difference. And I think it really negatively impacted his confidence in his

24:45shot. So I would say mentally was like probably number one and just like the inconsistent role,

24:50especially in the Olympics, maybe in the playoffs, like just having to do so much and getting so much

24:54attention on him, having to defensively rebounding, just extended minutes, obviously

25:00playing for June, it certainly had an impact as well. And there might be some technical things.

25:04I mean, the shot looks a little off to me. I try not to be a shot doctor because it's not,

25:09it's not my job here, but certainly I think if people have talked about, you know, it looks like

25:13there's a little bit of a, a little bit of something different in his shot than it used to

25:17be like kind of just the way that he ducks down that I don't know, maybe that's one of the issues

25:21as well, but whatever it is, I'm really, really curious to see how this, obviously I hope that

25:26his shot is, looks better when the season starts, but I'm really curious because it became such a

25:31national discourse that it's, it would just be nice to not have to, for him to have to think

25:37about this or worry about this much more. So yeah, I hope that it's not a thing, but I am curious

25:41cause I didn't feel like the Olympics was a good enough size, a good enough sample to really make

25:47a big takeaway. I'm like, you can shoot now or you can't shoot now. Like his shots cooked. Like

25:52I just felt like the Olympics was not a good, not a good spot for him and Steph Curry. I mean,

25:56obviously last few games, they were incredible, but for a long, a big portion of the Olympics,

26:00he was struggling. And so I do think that there's an element there too.

26:06See some comments here about whether Lonnie Walker takes away from Pritchard's development.

26:11We'll see.

26:15Someone, Benji here says, I'm reasonably, unreasonably confident that we will repeat.

26:18Please give me a dose of reality. The best thing that I can say there is that it's really, really

26:23unusual and hard to repeat. So I'm sure a lot of fan bases in the last seven years have thought

26:28their team was going to do it. The Nuggets have a well-positioned, there's the Bucks, there were

26:34the 2022 Warriors. I feel like that was a little bit of a different one, but certainly like when

26:38you have a team win for the first time in that generation, it's like, okay, let's do this again.

26:42And usually it doesn't happen again. So there's a dose of reality. That being said, I do think

26:46that this team is as well positioned to do so as any in my lifetime, at least.

26:55Benny Jeff says, I see Lonnie Walker being in that Gerald Green role when Brad was still

26:59coaching. I think that's a good case scenario. If you can get anything out of a training camp,

27:04signing, it's a win. And speaking of Gerald Green, he just won MVP for the big three tournaments

27:09at TD Garden like two weeks ago. And I interviewed him after that game. We talked about how special

27:13it was to be able to do that at TD Garden as where he considered himself a Celtics still. So

27:19I read, I wrote an article about that for SB Nation. Feel free to check that out, but

27:22had to plug that since I literally just saw Gerald Green like 10 days ago.

27:28Let's see.

27:30Question here. What number do you think Lonnie Walker would wear? And what number would you wear

27:34when you play club? I'm so bad at numbers. Like I couldn't even tell you the number of like every

27:38single Celtics player on the team. Like I know like Tatum's zero and Jalen Brown is seven,

27:43but like I genuinely would not be able to remember everybody else's. I just don't notice

27:46people's jersey numbers at all. So I have no idea what, what numbers are retired and what he'll wear.

27:51I wore 23 at one point. I wore zero at one point. I wore a bunch of numbers too,

27:56depending on what team I played. So yeah, not numbers were never, I'm trying to remember.

28:01There might, there might've been a number that I had. I did have 23 for a while and I remember

28:05thinking like, not worthy of this number. I don't know why I'm wearing it. So

28:12I got a question here about meat substitutes. For those of you that don't know, I was a

28:16basically a vegan lobbyist for my first, last, for the first three years out of college before

28:21starting to do this full time this summer. I won't get into that here just because I would

28:25need like way longer, but if anyone's ever curious, I can share more about the environmental

28:30impact and all the ethical reasons and societal reasons why I was lobbying for having better

28:36options that are plant-based. So if anybody's curious about that, I'm actually working on a

28:40big piece about meat substitutes. So I'm going to talk a little bit more about that in just a

28:44minute. I'm actually working on a big piece about plant-based eating and the NBA, WNBA. So

28:48I'll have more there, but I won't, I won't bore you guys too much on this show,

28:52on this topic, just in case people are not interested, but I appreciate someone finding,

28:58finding that out about me. Okay. I'm, I'm, I'm a little bit behind on these comments,

29:05but I see someone wrote kind of really shocked that Cornett didn't win most unique,

29:08but this is in reference to me talking about who have the most, who has the most unique

29:12personalities on the team. And Damon is correct. It should have been, it should have been Cornett

29:19over Dylan Brown. I forgot at the time. And that shows you that I haven't been around the Celtics

29:24for a couple of weeks now, because if I had, then I would have probably said Luke Cornett

29:28instinctively because just being around him for like five minutes was just a riot. So would have

29:33been him. We only have a couple more minutes, so I'm going to go through and just kind of run

29:43through these. Which big will have, I love these kinds of questions because this is just a total

29:48prediction, which big will have a bigger impact coming off the bench, Tillman, Cornett, or Cata?

29:54The case for Cornett is continuity. He's done it before. He's familiar with the system. Of those

29:59three guys, he had the biggest role last year, obviously. The case for Cata is the upside,

30:05like because he's younger, because he hasn't had nearly as much NBA experience under his belt,

30:09you can imagine more for him that could potentially be, you know, you can have loftier

30:15goals for him. Like I think at this point, Cornett is who he is. And Cata, there's less certainty

30:20around what his limits are. And then with Tillman, he's just so solid. But I don't, I don't know

30:27that we'll see anything different from him than what we saw last year, besides for maybe more

30:31shots, because he didn't shoot a whole lot and he wasn't super consistent in the shots that he did

30:36shoot. I think he's a better shooter than his numbers were with the Celtics last year. So I

30:40guess saying all that, if I had to pick one, I'm going to go with Cata. And this is one of those

30:46takes where like, I'm just going to disclaim, I could totally be wrong. You can come back to me

30:50and tell me like, once Cata is a DNP for the entire season, come back to me and tell me.

30:54I'll own this being a bad take, but I just, I think Cata can give them like rim protection and

31:01offensive rebounding and like finishing around the rim and a lob threat. And the way that the

31:06others can't, Cornett has improved his lob there, but I think that at his best, like for the vision

31:13that I have for Nimesh Cata, like he can do things that the other two just can't. And so they're

31:17going to give that a shot. And if it doesn't pan out, because defensively, he made a lot of mistakes

31:21last year in his minutes. Like if he can't be consistent and be solid when he does play,

31:27then yeah, I think you're going to find him in this, you know, out of the rotation, but if he

31:33can do it, he knocks those two guys out. So I'm going to go with Cata, but we'll see soon. It

31:38also, it will be matchup dependent. We saw certain stretches of the season where it was Cata was the

31:43first off the bench, sometimes it was Luke. Tillman came in in the playoffs and gave them

31:47some obviously really good minutes. So there's going to be moments that they each have. And I

31:51think together they're kind of playing this backup center role, which is pretty cool.

31:55But I'll go with Cata for now. And I'd be curious if I did like a poll amongst like Celtics media

31:59and Celtics fans, I bet it would be like a pretty even split between those three guys. I don't think

32:04there's like an obvious winner there, at least to me, there's not. Question here from Damon on where

32:10do you think O'Shea ends up? I just really hope he ends up in the NBA. I don't know where. I'd

32:15have to look at what teams are even eligible right now. I haven't looked at like the late,

32:21the most updated list of rosters on each team, but O'Shea had a player option. I don't know

32:26if everybody knows that, but like he signed a two year deal last, last summer with a player option.

32:30So he could sign with the Celtics again, if he wanted to, he all he had to do was opt in

32:36and he opted out, I think kind of betting on himself that he could find something better,

32:40um, maybe a longer term deal, maybe a role with more minutes elsewhere. And so far he hasn't been

32:46able to find that. Um, and so I'm sure that he is a little bit anxious right now. Um, if he doesn't

32:53find a team, like that's on him and his agents that they made the wrong call. And like I said,

32:57when talking about Lonnie Walker, like there's just a lot of luck in this business and finding

33:01the right home and, uh, maybe O'Shea made the wrong move and, you know, he ran out of luck here

33:07and he is not going to be in the league next year, but I really hope he finds a spot because

33:11a just from an energy team perspective, like he seems to me from what I was able to gauge

33:15and talk to people like the most outstanding teammate you can imagine, um, such a great energy

33:21guy. And then every time he came in, I thought he'd make good things happen. You know, he has

33:24limitations offensively, but he, he really didn't make good things happen. So I'd have to get back

33:29to you with specific teams, but I'll just say, I really hope that he, he's able to get it done.

33:37Question here from DeMarco. Do you think Westbrook can be a sixth man of the year in

33:40Denver with their weak bench? Um, I really like Westbrook, but I haven't been able to see him.

33:46I don't know that he's a great fit there. I honestly think people are forgetting that

33:50he's on Denver. I've been hearing about Denver's off season. Everybody's like,

33:53they got nobody and they lost KCP. Um, I would love him to be sixth man of the year.

34:01I don't think so though. I don't think that he can get it done. I don't know.

34:04I also have a feeling that he's gonna end up starting a lot of games just with the injuries

34:07that that team has had and Jamal Murray probably will get some rest. So in that sense, it's like,

34:12he might not even qualify. I have a feeling he'll be more of a starter than people maybe would hope

34:16or expect at this point, but I'm not going to lock him in as my sixth man of the year prediction.

34:22I have to think about who it is though. I usually like to think about these awards

34:25in the off season. Maybe in my next episode, I'll share my, all my award predictions.

34:31I don't have a vote, obviously. I mean, people, people will sometimes have asked me that it's

34:34like I'm a million degrees away from having a vote, a media vote. Um, but I'll just share my

34:39ballot. So that's a good inspiration to Mark. I'll do that for the next episode. Maybe we'll

34:42do that at the end. Um, just some quick votes. Um, appreciate all the nice comments here.

34:53Question here about best al replacement. I'm going to rapid fire these last few here.

34:57Um, just because we're, we've been going for a while, but I'll rapid fire these very briefly.

35:02Um, I think we're still a few ways, a few years away from an al replacement. Um,

35:10ideally like Anton Watson, not to be like too much of a Homer, but the second round

35:14pink pelvix was drafted, but I really watched him closely. I was at summer league for the entirety

35:18of summer league. I went back and watched some of his college film after he was drafted. I'll admit,

35:22I did not know who he was before he was drafted. I'm not going to lie, but since then I've done a

35:26lot of research on him and I think that he, he has like the feel and the touch that Al has,

35:32um, defensively, he's really smart. Uh, DJ McClay, the Celtics coach that was leading the

35:37WNBA, I'm sorry, the NBA summer league. He said that he's like an already an NBA level defender.

35:43So I don't think anybody's going to be at Whartford. Like it's just, he's such a unique

35:48talent that he's a generational player. Um, but I think as far as like 38 year old Al

35:53Anton can come in and do some of those things. So, so yeah, that's my prediction.

36:04Question here. Does, does Jalen and Jason touch the lead from team USA bias?

36:08I think they're both going to come in with a chip on their shoulder that maybe they don't,

36:12um, they wouldn't have had otherwise if they had just won the championship and had like a

36:15fun summer and they both had like their own share of like chip on their shoulder. Obviously, uh,

36:20Jalen Brown more with not being on team USA, Jason Tatum with being on team USA,

36:24but they're not playing and becoming this like spectacle and like this whole story.

36:28So I do think they come in with extra motivation. I just hope it's channeled right. Because sometimes

36:32you can come in and be like, I'm going to show everybody that I'm the guy. And it's like last

36:35year they didn't have that and they won the championship. So as long as it's funneled

36:38towards like the team and not towards like establishing their own individual value,

36:42I think it'll be a good thing. They certainly do both seem, especially Jalen. I mean, Jalen's been

36:46on a tear here online, so you can certainly see that. Um, question here, talks in WNBA. I will,

36:54I'm going to do some more WNBA specific content. Um, I don't know how much overlap there is between

36:59the listeners of like this show and WNBA interest. So I won't do too much here, but I will just say,

37:05I'll plug if you are interested in the WNBA, I covered full time for SB Nation,

37:08sbnation.com slash WNBA. You can find all my articles, including an article I wrote yesterday.

37:13That's been very controversial. So you can check that out and read about my perspective on some of

37:18the discourse around Caitlin Clark and the bowels and the league and everything. So you'll feel free

37:23to check that out. Um, and then I'll probably do look another WNBA specific episode, like in the

37:28next week or two. So I'll, I'll share that out when it's there. Um, specifically on the Connecticut

37:32sun, I think since that's technically like the affiliated team here, um, if you are looking to

37:37get into the WNBA. Um, and thank you, Tom. This is very helpful to good plug. Um, WNBA season has

37:45been awesome scratches. Most of the edge of Celtics withdrawals. I will attest that. Um,

37:51got a quick question here from Neil. Do any of the players in the Celtics where UNESCO is when

37:54they play? Um, I have Sabrina and SKUs. They're awesome. I love them. I play basketball. I,

38:00I always just get like the cheapest shoes. So I had, uh, the Yonases no shade to be honest,

38:05but they were like $30 when I bought them online. So I got those. I've played in like the Durant's

38:10for a while, the Hades for a while. Uh, they were fine, but I saw all this stuff on Sabrina,

38:14but actually what got me to get the Sabrinas is that I, uh, Payton Pritchard was asked the

38:19question about it in practice. He wears them. He also went to Oregon, uh, their friends,

38:23uh, drew holidays, worn them. I think a bunch of players have worn them, but I don't, I didn't,

38:27I don't really notice people's shoes, but I know drew it and, and Payton have both talked about it.

38:31Um, but then we have, I posted like a Payton Pritchard quote about it. It went super viral.

38:36It got like 2 million views and I kept getting notifications of people like interacting with

38:40that tweet. And I was like, I don't even have these shoes. So I went to go order them. Now I

38:43have them. They're awesome. Highly recommend. Um, but yeah. Um, last thing I will say is I just want

38:51to have a quick message here from our friends over at PrizePrix. Uh, PrizePrix is America's

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39:58prize picks run your game. Um, so with that, we will wrap up, uh, appreciate all of you for

40:04tuning in. Um, very much appreciated. I will just say, I'm going to do a couple more episodes this

40:10week. I'll do a WNBA specific episode, and then I'll do a Celtics off season specific episode as

40:16well. Um, so with that, thank you all so much. If you have any other questions you want answered

40:22suggestions on how to do this podcast, you can message me on Twitter. My DMs are always open for

40:26better or worse for the last 24 hours. It's been for worse, but they remain open. Um, I like being

40:30able to interact with all you guys and hear your thoughts. Um, one thing I'll say is I have a

40:35definitely want to do like a fan episode here and there. So I'm still figuring out the logistics that

40:40I want to be able to get different fans on and be able to get people to answer their questions and

40:44do it all, you know, live time as well. So I, a lot of you have messaged me about wanting to come on

40:48the show. So we will do that at some point of just like a interchangeable thing. I just have to

40:53make sure from like a safety online standpoint that I'm doing well. So that's coming lots, lots

40:59more content to come in the next few weeks. Um, you can read as always my stuff on Celtics blog.

41:03You can subscribe. I forgot to get the subscribe plug. Please subscribe. Uh, my YouTube channel is

41:08You Got Boston. You can also subscribe to CLNS and get all the different podcasts. But if you're

41:12watching this on CLNS, um, if you subscribe to You Got Boston, you will never miss an episode.

41:16It's literally just, just my episodes. So, uh, please do that. You can also watch on Spotify,

41:22Apple, uh, leave, leave a review, leave a rating, uh, leave comments, likes, shares, share with your

41:28friends. Um, yeah, as always appreciate it. My name is Noah. Appreciate having you guys all on

41:33and enjoy the rest of your week.

Mailbag and predictions for Celtics season | You Got Boston w/ Noa Dalzell

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