#Celtics legend Dee Brown joins! What was the transition like from late 80s- early 90s Celtics? Could this team beat the '86 team? Thoughts on 'Celtics City'? #NBA
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00:00Celtics game three tonight and shine we're gonna have to just delay the news a little bit because
00:06it is i this this doesn't happen all the time on this show but when it does it is an absolute honor
00:14and a thrill and so i would like to welcome back to the program the great d brown on a friday
00:24morning here at weei hello d what's up guys how y'all doing it's always you know what it's always
00:31great to hear weei i just remember that from johnny most and all the people so when i get on the show
00:37it brings up great memories so i appreciate you guys having me on well speaking of great memories
00:42and johnny most and things like that are you are you watching celtic city of course well you know
00:49what let me take that back i haven't watched it yet because i'm a binge watcher so i'm gonna wait
00:54i get a lot of people call me about the episodes i think i think my episode just came on this past
00:59week or a week ago things like that so i haven't watched it yet i like to watch it like entire the
01:04whole thing so i haven't i haven't watched it yet i've seen snippets of it of course um so i'm looking
01:11forward to watching i heard it's unbelievable it's great you know if you're a celtics fan or not a
01:16celtics fan i think this is something that people want to always want to know that the history of this
01:22great franchise organization you know going all the way back to red auerbach and walter brown all
01:26the way up to you know the current celtics so uh i'm i'm going to watch it it's not like i'm not
01:32but i i i want to i just want to go sit down close the door be in my be in my uh in my uh living room
01:41for about eight hours straight and enjoy uh my celtics you get you get a lot of red hour back you get rick
01:48patino you get rick patino firing red hour back you get a lot there's a lot of don't get me started
01:55on that again don't get me started on that one d i i've been watching i'm gonna blow it d i've been
02:03watching it and like the that's kind of like the wheelhouse of my basketball era is like the early
02:0990s when you guys when they made the transition from like kind of the old slow god to the whole
02:15nickname of the zip boys what was that like to to kind of put a different face on what we saw from
02:24the celtics those 80s celtics to the early 90s celtics where it was young upbeat flying around
02:32slam dunking what was that like that transition like for you well i mean red was a genius i mean
02:39people forget and also you know let's not forget you know the late great date gavitt who's also a part
02:44of this transition as well as long with jan bulk who was also the gm so those three guys were kind
02:50of the brain trust between this transition and the transition really started with laney bias that's
02:57when the transition kind of started with okay we gotta know the big threes only end up retiring soon
03:02we need the the new great self it's going to take us for the next 20 years then he passed away and all
03:07of a sudden you know the transition between you know the big three to the zip boys to the from the
03:12front court to the back court myself reggie brian shaw and kevin gamble um and to be a part of that
03:19knowing that you're going to be a part of a franchise that you know winning is not you know winning is
03:24you know winning banners is what you do we don't hang up we don't hang up you know division banners
03:30like that feeling of knowing that you're a part of something that always chasing championship every year
03:35anything less it feels like a failure uh in in celtics uh history or even in the fans in boston so
03:43to be a part of that is just it was it was it was so exciting exhilarating being a young kid from
03:49jacksville for to be a part of that transition to being uh a key cog to that um and then they obviously
03:56you know you know you know they retired uh obviously at different times and reggie passed away
04:02and all of a sudden you know it just it kind of just got stagnant you know so it's you know
04:07it was very very very tough um but i i relish and it made me the man who i am and love boston
04:14every single day of what they did for me and my family uh and you know you wish it would have went
04:20better and wish it would have been a better outcome especially with the people that we lost
04:25during that during that during that time um uh but again uh nothing would change my love for the
04:32city of boston and the social organization um at all uh because of all the things that i went through
04:38and people i got a chance to meet and and be around i i need you to weigh in on a ridiculous debate
04:45that curtis started on the show yesterday curtis suggested curtis suggested that this current
04:51celtics team would would beat the 86 team head to head no
04:56i'm gonna answer that i knew once you started once you started down the road that
05:02this celtics team will be i knew the team you're going to talk about 86 team
05:06they will not beat 86 team i'm sorry like i love this team the new team they got a great
05:11great great group of guys they got a deep bench 86 team was different like that was a different team
05:17i mean but they're playing with the 20 different teams they're playing with the 2025 defensive rules
05:24so you can't we're not playing yeah we're not playing 86 rules where you can take heads off
05:30you can't we can't change the rules we can't meet them halfway meet them halfway you can't
05:36you can't go 86 to 25 they played the 95 rules oh that's different kind of that's halfway
05:42if you meet them if you meet them halfway i'll still take 86 celtics yeah i knew it i knew you
05:48would all right speaking of like the way they play and and cheap shots we uh we saw the flagrant
05:54on tatum uh al horford said yesterday that kcp intentionally tripped him uh looked like to
06:03to many of us that cole anthony uh cheap shot at the knee into peyton pritchard is that from your
06:13perspective is that playing dirty or is that good basketball in the playoffs oh i think it's
06:19physical basketball and i think the rest of that people get away a little bit more in the playoffs um
06:24you know it's physical the referees want to see more gameplay but sometimes it does it gets a little
06:30out of control and guys you know hit people i mean this look you know we talk about the celtics
06:35game okay and you know with jason getting hit and then you know pritchard and helfer all those things
06:41are happening during the course of the game it's so fast yeah it's borderline dirty i don't they're
06:45not dirty players i'm not gonna fly out and say that i think it's physical and you get caught up
06:49you look at two incidents that just happened the last a couple games with with jimmy butler uh and also
06:56with john moran you know they both fell on their backs and once on their hips there wasn't dirty
07:01plays gotta get pushed get stumbled and it just looks bad uh so i would never consider those guys
07:08that that did those to those guys dirty players but when physical play happens and you get you know
07:14riled up and so much energy and adrenaline happens you know you you know you you cross a line we call
07:20some of those players and you know what i'm talking about i'm not gonna say names habitual line
07:23steppers you know who those are those guys are the league you know they there's certain guys that
07:28you know you know that the draymons and the dylan brooks they're habitual line steppers you know
07:33they're gonna they're gonna push the envelope a little bit and everybody falls into line and
07:38another teammate will do something and then another team and then all of a sudden you know the game's
07:42got physical and a little bit out of control and uh somewhat muddy and dirty um but you know i know
07:48guys are not trying to hurt guys out there but the playoffs it gets a little a little intense
07:53um and hopefully you know you know jason will be back for game three yeah d brown is our guest
07:59were you surprised that he didn't play wednesday night uh i was surprised i was more surprised that
08:06was the first game he missed in the playoffs more than anything like that's amazing like that was the
08:11first playoff game he's missed and um so when when i heard that stat i go wow he's not playing it must be
08:19really serious or you know it's a home game early it's round one um you know it's you know it's a two
08:25versus seven uh you know they got enough to to to beat the magic with the good head you know the jaylen
08:33stepped stepped up um you know derrick wise been playing great all series so far uh so no i wasn't
08:40surprised once i've you know learned that you know you know it's a long series it's a long playoff so
08:46you know you gotta win 16 games and winning game two and risking jason um risk to be more aggravated
08:53or him not playing at the level so he can be scrutinized more you know like that's all jason needs
08:58right now is oh see if he played and he only scored eight points and they won he's not really a superstar
09:05like i had you know people had more to the narrative why jason tatum's not a great player
09:11it it it it you know it makes me you know dizzy um so he did the right thing and they made the right
09:17decision on him not playing because the other guy stepped up would larry have missed a game with a
09:22bruised wrist oh god uh i've seen larry lay on his back plenty of times you know and wanted to play but
09:31you know what the the powers that be named endless cert and you know uh chris forbes like no you're not
09:39playing so that's a that's an unfair comparison i've seen larry come back we're hitting his face on
09:46the floor yeah crack his crack his uh his face and come back and hit a couple jumpers against the
09:51patient so don't take a comparison like you can't do that you can't do that one don't i know we tried
09:58to get you with the uh 86 question because of my topic yesterday but he has been all over he's
10:03been capping this week but but d i i would just be curious to get your reaction a big talker here has
10:12been joe mazula uh screaming get up to jason tatum as he was on the ground writhing in pain was that
10:19surprising to you no is anything that joe mazula is surprising he is the most entertaining i don't
10:27know if he's serious sometimes i don't know if he's just just like uh joking with the media and
10:33the things he says he said he was saying out of love like joe is i mean he's such a just a a a
10:42person that he says what's on his mind he's very up front and honest uh and you appreciate that
10:48uh and i think he was saying out of love i mean joe you know he's a person that if he speaks into the
10:54universe it's going to happen like i feel like he's that that type of coach like hey get up and
11:00then you go hey just get up like you know and uh joe but you know you gotta admire joe because you've
11:05done such a great job after obviously you know year one and then year two and then championship and
11:10you know obviously now you know you know he's the guy people trust him you know he he doesn't have a
11:17problem with taking you know the blame if something goes wrong we're calling out people so you appreciate
11:22him but you know you never know what's going to come out of joe's mouth during a press conference
11:27or something like that but he's so he's so unique and i really like him i like him for that
11:33one of the interesting things i know you said you haven't watched it yet you're going to binge
11:36it with celtic city that they really dive into especially kind of in your era in the bird era is just
11:42the racial element of the boston celtics fans and just the city and area i know you had this
11:49situation they obviously talk about that with you um getting pulled over and guns drawn on you
11:54in wellesley yeah what was it like for you at that era um to be a black athlete playing in boston
12:04other than that incident and you know i didn't i wasn't pulled over i was already parked in the
12:10parking lot already um um getting my mail across shipping uh uh the post office that the from the
12:17the the bank that was robbed like a week before um i was there so you know that incident obviously
12:25was you know very very you know traumatic and you know you know it scares you when you're just first
12:29moving to boston i was just trying to i was moving into wellesley at that time so it was it was that
12:34was a tough situation and a lot of good things came out of that you know a lot of conversations with
12:38the city a lot of things you know i wasn't trying to sue or anything like that i just wanted some
12:43education and people to understand this happens you know if i wasn't a boston celtic player you
12:49know what could happen could i've been a shot you know so um but after that you know i never had any
12:55issues in boston you know my wife's from cambridge i still got family that lives in cambridge and maldon
12:59um so i'm always up always up in boston um i ended up living in wellesley um because we have we
13:06you know we practiced there i had my best me and a lot of parents i have my basketball camp uh in
13:11wellesley uh uh at boston college so i enjoy my time up there again i say this to everybody who
13:18always asks me this question like you know there's there's there's always going to be some you know
13:24racial you know inequities in the city you go to you know there's certain areas that you go that
13:31predominantly black white asian hispanic whatever it is you know and uh you know i found myself when
13:38i was in boston i you know i went to north didn't hate you know you know uh you know and and and i
13:45you know you know walked certain areas and things like that and people didn't really didn't bother me
13:50at all you know maybe because i was a celtic and people knew who i was and so i'm not dismissing that
13:55that that that factor and that part of being in boston but after the incident you know you know i i
14:01i never had any issues with any any race any fans calling me crazy or calling me certain words or
14:08things like that um i know the boston fans and they're very very passionate and i'm sure they've
14:15crossed line in many ways with uh you know opposing teams and that's not right either uh no matter who it
14:23is so but i love the city like i said my oldest daughter lex who plays in the w right now wmbi was
14:28born in boston you know so uh you know like i said boston is my second home and it always will be
14:35oh we love you we're we're we love having you on so come on come on anytime did i did wellesley at
14:43least did they give you the key to the city or like name uh like name a rotary after you or because i
14:49could probably i could probably make that happen did they do anything well well one thing that
14:57happened i think the police chief got fired the mayor got uh and i knew a lot of things to happen
15:01you know that that was positive for the for wellesley and the community just kind of like i said brought
15:06a lot of conversation and awareness to that to that city you know and even the surroundings
15:12waltham need them all those areas kind of kind of came together and said listen you know if this
15:17is happening we got to do a better job of identifying this stuff shouldn't be happening
15:21in you know in you know back then 19 and 1990s you know uh now it's 2025 uh obviously that's you know 35
15:29years ago uh um but it's uh you know so so listen it's still my favorite place like i said i still got
15:40plans friends and family up there so uh you know never ever ever uh you can never ever get me to say
15:47something bad about boston in that sense at all even though that's happening to me i love it well
15:51we'll see you when you come back up come in and see us steve brown thanks for taking the time we
15:55appreciate it appreciate you guys thank you all right