The Celtics are heading to Atlanta to start a critical six-game road trip that could either start a big winning streak and help them reclaim the top spot in the East, or that could go terribly wrong, keep them in second (or worse, drop them to third).
I don’t want to deal with the latter.
But hey, it’s Friday. The weather is getting nice. We’re getting out of the prison of Eastern Standard Time on Sunday. Spring is 10 days away. And the regular season ends four weeks from Sunday.
Here are a few thoughts springing forward from my head ...(hold for laughter)... about the Celtics and the league heading into the weekend.
- This road trip is incredibly important
Boston has the eighth-easiest remaining schedule, and I think the nine games remaining before they face Milwaukee are all winnable games.
The Bucks are in the middle of the pack when it comes to the remaining schedule. They play at Golden State tomorrow night, where the Warriors are one of the best teams in the league. They also have a road game in Denver before facing Boston, and if they drop those two games (or any two) while Boston goes on a run, then the game in Milwaukee will likely decide the East. The winner there gets the tiebreaker.
Can Boston actually sweep this road trip? That's asking a lot, but Boston will be favored in Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota, Portland, Utah, and Sacramento. Robert Williams should be returning soon as well. They have a chance to make a nice run here and make us all forget about last weekend.
- Time for Jayson Tatum to get the playoffs treatment
We’re too deep into the season to drop him to 32 minutes a game (unless the Celtics want to start blowing teams out and having him sit fourth quarters). He’s going to have to keep playing playoff-level minutes so he’s ready for when the postseason starts.
However, considering the mileage on his legs this season, I think it’s time to put the playoff plan into effect early. That means follow a playoff-like schedule with his heavy minutes plus extra rest and recovery. No more back-to-backs this season.
They're off to a good start with the blowout Wednesday night and two days off before the Atlanta game. He’ll play Monday against Houston and Wednesday against Minnesota, but I think he should sit Friday in Portland for two days off before playing in altitude in Utah the next night.
Then he’ll have two days off before facing Sacramento and another two days off before the Indiana game at home. I think a stretch of three games with two days off before each one would be perfect for Tatum. Then he has an every-other-day stretch after the Indiana game of San Antonio, Washington, and then the big game in Milwaukee.
He should then sit the next time vs. Utah and the first Toronto game (which is a back-to-back after playing in Philadelphia the previous night).
That's my plan for Tatum. He can play 40 minutes a night in those games, maybe mixing in a lower number in one of the middle games. I don’t mind the minutes anymore because his body has to be ready for the playoffs. For me, the focus for Tatum is all about the recovery at this point. Everything over the next month has to be about maximizing his recovery time, and this is my way of doing that.
It’s a little different for Jaylen Brown because he’s missed a lot of time so the wear and tear isn’t quite the same. He’s played 335 fewer minutes than Tatum this season. Brown has missed seven games, but based on his average of 36 minutes per game, he’s played the equivalent of nine fewer games than Tatum. So resting him on a back-to-back works, too, but I think the plan is more important for Tatum at this point.
- An alternative view of Grant Williams going to the bench
There are a couple of ways to spin the Grant Williams situation lately. One way is to just put it bluntly: He’s been benched. He’s not playing well enough to warrant time on the floor.
The other way is this quote from Joe Mazzulla:
“I don’t really think it’s about Grant. I think it’s we’re fully healthy. We have a lot of options, and we develop different identities and we play around nine guys. And so, when you play nine guys, you can pick from anybody. So it’s not really about him as much as it’s about because we have so much depth, this is who we’re going with. It doesn’t mean that you’re doing something wrong. It doesn’t mean that you’re not a good player. What it means is that we have a lot of options that we can go to, so here’s what we’re going to now. And we need that continued humility and professionalism so when it is your time, you can just be ready to go, which our guys have done the entire season. So it’s not about one guy. It’s about our depth and how we maximize it.”
Oooh, way to flip the depth conversation on us, Joe. He’s right in that there are other options to go to in these spots if Williams isn’t performing. The depth exists for a reason, and anyone slipping on a deep team can easily get buried if he’s not careful.
I stand by what I said after the Portland game about Williams being critical to this team’s success. He does a lot and he’s very versatile. They need Williams to be his best come playoff time.
My hope is that he figures things out and shows his true value in the playoffs. A confident Grant Williams is very valuable to this team, and can be the difference in a playoff game.
- Grant’s contract value
A recurring question that was just asked again in my podcast mailbag was what I think Williams’ contract would be at this point.
The important thing to remember is that the price doesn’t go up and down daily like the stock market. This bad stretch isn’t dropping his price, but it sure isn’t raising it, either.
I think something in the realm of four years, $60 million would be fine for him. It’s a lot of money for him, personally, but it tracks with other NBA role players with a starting salary just below $14 million in year one. Guys in that range right now include Kyle Kuzma ($13 million) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($14 million), so it’s a fine place for Williams to be.
Also, four years of a contract in the $14-$17 million range is a very useful trade piece to have. Even if you think that's a few million too high, it’s worth the little bit extra in terms of trade value down the road. Every roster needs guys making this kind of money so they can get deals done.
I’ve said it before about Williams and I’ll repeat it here: He’ll probably have a long career playing for four or five teams because he’s always going to be good enough to be desirable in a trade, but never so good that his inclusion is a deal-breaker. It just makes sense to pay him a fair amount that also gives Boston a good trade chip.
- Fred VanVleet, Marcus Smart’s hero
VanVleet lit into the NBA officials, Ben Taylor in particular in a curse-filled rant that included “I thought Ben Taylor was f---ing terrible tonight. I think that on most nights, you know out of the three (refs), there's one or two that just f--- the game up. It's been like that a couple of games in a row … Most of the refs are trying hard. I like a lot of the refs, they're trying hard, they're pretty fair and communicate well. And then you got the other ones who just want to be dicks and just kind of f---s the game up.”
That rant (which you can see here), cost VanVleet $30,000, and I’m betting Smart will gladly chip in and pay some of it.
“I don’t know if you guys have seen Fred VanVleet's interview. That’s all I'm gonna say. Obviously, it let you know that I'm not speaking out of my butt. And I'm not the only one that feels that way. So I'm gonna let Fred do all the talking,” Smart said before the team left for Atlanta.
“Yeah, I mean, I've had, in my nine years, I definitely have had that where I’ve felt that an officials had a personal vendetta,” he continued. “They have bad days, just like we do. So it's only fair to notice and understand and have empathy in the fact that sometimes they're gonna let their emotions get the best of them and make calls and judgment calls the way that they officiate. It happens. As players we just want that consistency. Just like for us, we get emotional, too. But, for us, we get in trouble for it. And we just want that consistency around. And that's it. So I had that in the past but, like I said, I’m going to let Fred do all my talking around that.”
Officiating an NBA game is hard. Guys are flying around, there are bodies everywhere in the paint, sometimes things aren’t clear, and you basically have someone yelling at you after every play.
Honestly, if I had to officiate a game with Grant Williams on the floor, I’d start the game by warning him to shut up. The last thing I’d want is someone in my face after every play barking about how I’m bad at my job … especially when he’s probably wrong most of the time.
Still, this is the job they signed up for. I’d hate to do that job, so I never pursued it. They got into it knowing what the job was. They trained for it. They watched NBA games growing up.
So while I understand it’s crappy for an official to taste the spittle of frustrated behemoths in the heat of the moment, they knew what they were getting into when they applied for the gig. If it’s more than they thought, then they should leave. Go officiate college games.
I hate when players spend too much time yelling at the refs. Just go play basketball and talk during a stoppage. But also, I hate when refs get caught up in the moment and go too far with techs. There's a balance and both sides have to find it.
Funny ref story when I was playing in Greece: An official quit mid-game because he was sick of hearing players complain. He seriously just walked off the floor in the middle of the game and left, and we had to play with two officials the rest of the way.
- LeBron James doping allegations
This is a slow-burn of a story, but it’s gaining traction.
Basically, former MMA fighter Chael Sonnen, now an ESPN MMA analyst and admitted user of performance enhancers, said LeBron James is doping.
He made the accusation on the Flagrant podcast, saying they “have the same drug guy,” and that LeBron uses EPO (Erythropoietin) -- which stimulates red blood cell production which leads to increased stamina.
The drug is banned by the NBA.
James has not responded and he has never failed a drug test. All I can say is I hope this is a case of a loudmouth talking loud. There would be no greater embarrassment to the NBA than the man who just broke the all-time scoring record being outed as a cheat.
