Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I tried to do it on my notes app but I can’t figure out this damn iPhone 15.
- The Sam Cassell hire is already paying off. Paul Pierce said his summer workouts with Jayson Tatum began because he tagged along with Cassell to one early on.
I don’t think Cassell invited Pierce by mistake. Cassell played with Pierce on Boston’s 2008 championship team and then was an assistant coach when Pierce joined the Clippers. They have a long history, and Cassell is very aware of Pierce’s career arc.
Making sure Tatum and Pierce connected was a genius move. Between the workouts with Pierce and those with Jaylen Brown, I’m very encouraged by how Tatum is heading into the season …
- … Even though he has an allergic reaction Hitch tattoo
Just taking a moment to appreciate Jayson Tatum for getting a tattoo of allergic-reaction Hitch pic.twitter.com/ikPQ8erDzV
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) September 18, 2023
- It’s great that Austin Rivers called Brad Stevens and had a great conversation. Brad is a very polite person.
- I know they got some bad breaks and gave themselves some real chances to come back and win their first two games, but any warm feelings about the Patriots go out the window if they can’t beat the Jets.
- Saudi Arabia is continuing to buy big names and challenge established sports leagues. If global warming can’t stop our reliance on fossil fuels, maybe the Saudis coming in to steal our sports will.
- Gilbert Arenas is a true jackass.
He went off on Hakeem Olajuwon charging $50,000 to train NBA players.
“Nobody wants the Hakeem Olajuwon sky hook. Nobody wants none of that... You should be ashamed of yourself, charging these young whippersnappers $50,000. When you came in the league in 1984, you wasn’t even making $50,000 a game. You’re trying to make your month back through the youth! Do not charge these boys 50 grand for that bull----. He ain’t been good since the ’90s. That means all the moves from the 2000s, he don’t know. 2010s, he don’t know. 2020s, he don’t know. Who you gonna do the moves on? Wembanyama?”
First of all, the level of disrespect for one of the true legends of the game here is off the charts. Dream was 10 times the player Arenas was, and Arenas was pretty good. But his attitude clearly hasn’t eased as he’s aged.
Olajuwon charged $50,000 because he can. He charges that because people will pay it. And people will pay it because he sees the game in a way most players can’t, and he can teach how to exploit that with the kind of footwork that can win an NBA championship and Dancing With The Stars.
And Kareem had the sky hook.
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
- There is nothing dumber than fighting at a sporting event. If you’re throwing a punch over sports, then save the money you spend on tickets and spend it on a therapist.
- I still think it’d be cool to have an alternate floor for Celtics games when they wear one of their alternate jerseys. Just something that changes the center logo. I think it’d be a cool touch.
- I don’t know why everyone is roasting Stephen A. Smith’s first pitch. It was a perfect bounce pass.
- Deion Sanders is everywhere.
- This idiotic concept that Portland owes Damian Lillard anything other than the money he has earned at this point is ludicrous.
Lillard’s camp has torched talks to the point of the NBA getting involved to threaten punishment if he refuses to report to a team other than Miami if traded there. His side has made this contentious. Instead of quietly working with the team to move him to one of a few possible destinations, his side went full scorched earth.
He signed a massive deal, which he earned. Portland is a tough place to draw free agents, and their front office made some bad decisions to compound a tough financial situation. So it’s no surprise it’s now time for Lillard to leave.
But all Portland owes him at this point is a ton of money. If we’re going to go down the road of who owes what to whom, I can argue that Lillard owes it to Portland to not destroy their team for the foreseeable future by making them take a crappy deal.
I do think it’s in Portland’s best interests to accommodate Lillard as much as possible because they need as much agent goodwill as possible. But they don’t have to capitulate just because Lillard has been there forever. Both sides need to work together.
- Miami will get better if they ever actually trade for Lillard, but missing out on adding Christian Wood and Kelly Oubre as supporting pieces after that trade is Pat Riley’s biggest failure.
Miami overplayed their hand and now filling the gaps they open by trading for Lillard will be incredibly difficult.
When you ask why teams don’t just lowball other teams and stick to their “take it or leave it” guns, this is the answer. Letting things drag out too long in the NBA can lead to serious repercussions.
- Golden State getting into the Dwight Howard business would be hilarious. I can't wait for the reports of him getting into a fight with Draymond Green because he kept interrupting an empassioned halftime speech by making armpit fart noises.
- While it might be tempting to think of Buddy Hield’s shooting in Joe Mazzulla’s 3-point happy offense, but Boston would have to give up Malcolm Brogdon (would he even want to go back to Indiana? Would they want him?) and it would leave them very thin at point guard. I don’t think there's a realistic case to be made.
- James Dolan says he really doesn’t like owning teams, which is convenient because the fans of his teams don’t like him owning them either.
- I don’t believe in ghosts or the afterlife, but I’ll make an exception to completely believe that Red Auerbach’s ghost made sure Winning Time, a story centered around Magic Johnson and the Lakers, ended with an episode where the Celtics won the championship.
- Willie Cauley-Stein is going overseas. He says “I chose to come to Europe because of the more 'tactical' way of playing compared to the 1vs1 basketball that is played today in the NBA, which is conditioned by the players' desire to produce personal statistics. Here in Europe every game and every ball is important, not like in the NBA where all 82 games are equal.”
That all sounds great, but it’s pretty easy to say when no one wants you in the NBA. The only choice involved in going to Europe was between Italy and a team in some other part of the world.
- Neemias Queta is this year’s Mfiondu Kabengele.
- Get well soon, Juwan Howard, who is recovering from heart surgery.
- Here's my latest podcast, if you're bored.