Picks 'n Pops: Haslem's line-crossing, Tatum searching for shots, and an ineffective star

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I've got better things to do than stand in Times Square in a diaper waiting for a ball to slide down a pole.

- Bam Adebayo should have kept his mouth shut about Udonis Haslem’s pregame speech. I think what happens in locker rooms is separate from the rest of the real world, and unless it’s something universally funny, stuff shouldn’t be shared. 

That's especially true about pregame pump up speeches, which are emotional and raw. I don’t give a damn that Haslem used Bill Russell’s number retirement as motivation. It’s like anything else between consenting adults behind closed doors … have fun. Who cares?

But bringing it to light and having Haslem say “F Bill Russell” in public, sort of take it back, and then say maybe he won’t take it back because Celtics fans are mean to Miami? 

That's garbage, and it’s especially garbage because it invited Miami fans to join in the chant. If Haslem had laughed it off and simply said ‘you say what you gotta say in the heat of the moment to get ready for a game,’ then this would be nothing. To basically double down on it after the fact? Disrespectful to a man who should be universally revered for paving the way for guys like Haslem to even be in the league. 

- Shout out to Kevin Durant for pulling out the Suns jersey with the Bill Russell patch, very obviously in response to these comments. 

(Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)

- Jayson Tatum’s worst habit is looking to find his 3-point shot rather than just playing naturally and letting it come to him. It’s like me when I try to pick up my smaller dog. He just scurries around and is impossible to catch. Sometimes he hides under things. But if I sit down, he'll be jumping up to sleep on my chest in three seconds. 

So yeah, I guess Tatum’s 3-pointers are a Yorkie mix: We love them when they're good but they rarely are. So stop chasing them and let them just find you when they're ready.

- That said, we’re firmly in “opinions about Tatum vary wildly depending on whether shots fall” territory. 

- Maybe the Celtics can find a few more post ups for Kristaps Porzingis

- Porzingis is doubtful vs. Toronto tonight. I, for one, applaud the Celtics for treating him with kid gloves. He’s too important for the future to risk anything at this point, home winning streak or not.

- This photo is gold

- I know we can push and pull stats sliders in all sorts of directions to make a guy “the only guy to do this.” But this one is good. 

That a little guard like Derrick White is accomplishing something typically reserved for monsters at the rim like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid is incredibly impressive. 

- Joe Mazzulla talked about reinventing the offense before the Pistons game. He backed off the word reinvent, but he did talk about making adjustments.

“You look at the road trip coming up and the number of teams that we’re playing against, on-ball switching and off-ball switching are two things we’re going to see. And we went over, last week they were switching and it slowed us down. So, like, can we think with the end in mind in a sense of how can we attack switching differently in order to change the game versus good defenses that kind of switch, that try to get up in us and try to slow us down. Our transition has to do that and then our off-ball pace and execution has to do that. So it was just something that I thought it was important for us to stress during this stretch of games and we’ll see if we can get better at it.”

I think the more accurate way of putting this is adding an element to the offense that can attack different kinds of defenses. 

Let’s be honest, the number one way to slow Boston’s offense down is to dangle a mismatch in front of Tatum or Jaylen Brown and beg them to attack it, then send over late help and hope they screw up the read. 

Both Tatum and Brown have gotten better at getting off the ball in certain situations, but they do have to get better, and they have to recognize where the advantages are all over the floor, not just in front of them. 

- The Pistons will go on a winning streak this season. Like, a real one.

- Good to see Marcus Smart doing well in Memphis now that Ja Morant is back and he’s in the role he was supposed to have. 

- I can’t figure out the Chicago Bulls, which makes me think they won’t actually become sellers after all. I know Boston fans have eyes on one or two of their guys, but they're 5-3 over their last eight games, which is driving down the price for Zach LaVine. Teams are hungry for star power and Chicago is holding an expensive, fancy bag of chips. They might just hold onto everyone and put their faith in Lonzo Ball coming back.

- Steve Kerr after Nikola Jokic went 18-18 from the free throw line against the Warriors (Via ESPN): 

“We are enabling players to B.S. their way to the foul line. If I were a fan, I wouldn't have wanted to watch the second half of that game. It was disgusting. It was just baiting refs into calls, but the refs have to make those calls ... the players are really smart in this league. For the last decade, they've gotten smarter and smarter. We have enabled the players, and they are taking full advantage.

“It's a parade to the free throw line, and it's disgusting to watch.”

The problem is that guys get fouled all the time and you just can’t call them all. So guys revert to flailing and flopping to emphasize it, and that's how they get the calls. 

The refs just have to stop falling for it. Stick to your guns and call the fouls impact the play, and don’t call some of the fouls that really don’t change anything. 

There's contact, and there's disadvantaging the opponent. One is physicality, one is a foul. 

- Oh by the way, here’s Jokic’s line from last night: 26 points on 11-11 shooting (1-1 3pt), 3-3 ft, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers. 

I wish the NBA had a QB rating kind of thing so I could say he was a 158.3. QB rating is my favorite stat because perfect is the dumbest set of numbers. I’m just going to say Jokic was a 621.4 on the Karalis Scale of Awesomeness. 

- Trae Young is on a roll. Over his last 15 games, he’s averaging 30 points and 12 assists and shooting 40% from 3. 

Wow, right?

He’s a -2.4 over that stretch and his Hawks are 4-10. Young isn’t a winner and the Hawks are going nowhere with him as their best player. The worst part is Derrick White won’t make the All Star team and Young will, and I’d rather have White on my team every day of the week. 

Young’s score on the KSA right now is 214.99, which is the worst he can get. Very disappointing, showing.

- The Browns made the playoffs? When did the NFL start allowing that?

- This week’s AI generated image: The Celtics getting a very messy W at home. 

Shout out for the DJ jersey, Bing. 

- Your current NBA Belt champion: The Miami Heat

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