Picks 'n Pops: Jayson Tatum already dunking on teams, petty James Harden, and a corny goodbye

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because Taylor Swift chose Travis Kelce over me and this helps me shake it off.

- The season hasn’t even started and Jayson Tatum has already dunked on the Philadelphia 76ers.

Cold. Blooded. 

- James Harden is a grade-A Richardhead for throwing a party days before training camp where they held up a “Daryl Morey is a liar” sign.

Nothing says “trade for me” like a petty, bacchanalian festival of debauchery splashed across social media. 

But this is straight out of the Harden playbook. When he wanted out of Houston and they took their time, a video of him partying in a nightclub hit the socials the week before camp. This is how Harden communicates. 

What team out there wants this guy knowing that once the situation no longer suits him, he’ll be up to this again? 

- Kristaps Porzingis scrimmaged yesterday and felt good. That's really good to hear, but I’d like to hear that exact report every day for the next two weeks before I really believe the plantar fasciitis is gone. 

- Ridiculously vague headline of the week: “Oft-injured Boston Celtics big ‘as good as it gets’ in trade of ex-No. 1 overall pick.”

What?

My dog can eat and vomit all the letters from a Scrabble game and it would make more sense. 

- I think Phoenix made out pretty well in the Lillard trade. 

- Tom Brady is great and all, but his biggest fumble is convincing Kevin Durant to choose the Warriors over the Celtics. 

What did Tom think his job was in those negotiations? If he wasn’t going to advocate for the Celtics, why didn’t he just say “thanks, but no thanks.” 

And why did Ainge think a guy from San Mateo, a 40-minute drive to Oracle Arena, would pass on a chance to get one of the best players ever to his hometown team? I’m not sure that was well thought out.

- The Warriors are going to get the All-Star game in 2025. Keep an eye on 2026, though.

- At this angle, DJ Wilson looks like Eric Andre pulling some kind of intricate NBA prank

- I’m an NBA guy, and the longer I cover the Celtics and the league, the less attention I give to other sports. 

So when a guy like me knows that Angel Hernandez is the worst umpire in MLB, that should tell you how bad he is. 

- Alyssa Thomas should have been the WNBA MVP. 

- Damian Lillard releasing a single to say goodbye to Portland is corny as hell. 

- Bill Belichick got jokes

- Folks in Miami are BIG MAD over the Lillard trade. Pat Riley should be the target of their scorn, not just for how he handled this, but for not having Miami in a position to put a legitimate offer together. “Heat Culture” can only go so far for so long. 

Eric Spoelstra is being worked harder than Luke Skywalker projecting the force hologram to fight Kylo Ren. How long before Spo just collapses from continuing to conjure magic to make players like Gabe Vincent look good? 

- Maybe we should stop asking opposing executives what they think about things they're not involved with. They might be making educated guesses, but they are still guesses. 

- I think the most hilarious Jrue Holiday destination would be the Warriors because it would send Chris Paul to Portland. 

Also, Holiday on the Warriors would be devastating and one last middle finger to the league from the Warriors, the team most directly targeted by the new CBA rules. They would strongly challenge Denver in the West if they got Holiday. 

- That said, if Boston’s involvement can facilitate keeping Holiday in the West, they should try whatever they can to make that happen. 

- Stop using taxpayer money to build stadiums for billionaires. 

- Should I just start betting the over on all Miami Dolphins games?

- “Orioles clinch Al East” looks like a typo to me. 

- Happy trails, Tito Francona, whose greatest baseball accomplishment was coaching Michael Jordan in Double A ball. And apparently he won something in 2004, so that's nice too. That must have felt good. 

- Congratulations to Blaine Mueller, former Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach, for being named head coach of the Maine Red Claws. That's generally a pipeline to the Boston bench, and the head coaching experience will be great for him. 

This is an important role for Boston because Jordan Walsh will likely spend a lot of time in Maine. Getting him ready for the rigors of defending in the NBA is a huge task because if Walsh can be turned into a contributor quickly, it will be a massive boost to the Celtics for almost no money. 

- Here’s my latest podcast, if you’re bored