Picks 'n Pops: A high honor, kids books, and wishing to be a bit taller

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I'm about to take advantage of all the Friday the 13th sales on chainsaws and hockey masks. 

- Commissioner Adam Silver said he doesn’t like the multi-step sale the Celtics are planning to go through. I doubt that will change how the Celtics are sold.

- You realize how important sports can be when you see Al Horford go back to the Dominican Republic with the trophy and receive the country’s highest honor. The sense of pride they have in Horford’s accomplishment shows how much representation matters. This was a huge day for Horford and his family, but also for the entire Dominican Republic. 

- Watching Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum rap this summer makes me appreciate just how good they are at basketball. 

- Tatum dropped his rap as a comedic bit on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He was there to promote his children’s book and he dropped a few predictions along the way.

No one should have a problem that he picked himself as MVP, especially certain former Celtics paid to say whatever they need to say to get ratings and attention. Tatum is clear about his goals: winning first, and hopefully he picks up an MVP along the way. 

Do we really have to do this every September?

- Tatum including an illustration of him blocking Grant Williams in a children’s book is beyond hilarious. 

- It’s going to be especially funny to see Deuce Tatum walking around the Garden with a ring and Williams without one when Charlotte comes to town.

- Here’s the best joke about Tatum’s TV appearance: 

- Kristaps Porzingis is lighting Instagram on fire with the amount of pictures he’s posting from his rehab. I’m taking that as a good sign. No one is posting rehab pics at that rate if they're not feeling good about where they are. 

Also, it looks like he’s spent a little extra time in the weight room.

- Congratulations to A’ja Wilson for setting the WNBA’s single-season scoring record. She’s having one of the most dominant seasons we’ve ever seen in women’s basketball. 

- In a Q&A with NBA.com, Joe Mazzulla had this exchange: 

Q: “In terms of going from the so-called hunter to the hunted, didn’t a lot of that go on last season when the Celtics were compiling the league’s best record, 64-18?”

A: “I don’t live in an either/or society. I hear people talk about ‘hunter vs. hunted,’ but I think it’s ‘both/and.’ I think we should always be hunting people [in sports] and we should be getting hunted at the same time, each year. I don’t the circumstances change from year to year. Your environment changes — teams have gotten better, so you have to do your due diligence and understand what those changes are. And then you have to make sure you do a bigger due diligence to your self-improvement. To individual growth.”

My biggest takeaway? 

I love that they had to include “[in sports]” to Joe’s answer because with him, we’re not 100% sure he wasn’t talking about something else.

- We need to get Mazzulla in the ring the next time the WWE is in town. He would absolutely sign up to take a chair shot. For all we know, he asks to get hit in the head with a chair at every other practice. Would that surprise anyone?

- The NBA is expanding replay to help figure out if a foul contributed to an out-of-bounds play. It never made sense for refs to watch a replay when a guy was clearly hacked but the ball went to the other team because of it. 

- Congrats to Tyler Lashbrook on getting the Maine Celtics head coaching job. 

- Trae Young said he’d be the best player ever if he was 6-foot-8. I might not understand the human body very well, but I don’t understand how more height would make him want to try on defense. 

- I'll make a significant donation to the Boston Celtics Foundation if the Celtics play Skee-Lo's "I wish" during Young's entire warmups when the Hawks visit Boston. 

- I really hope Robert Williams doesn’t end up with the Knicks. 

- Anyone writing off the Bucks does so at their own peril.

- The Philippine Basketball association has a 4-point shot now. 

I think that should be the NBA 3-pointer. Let’s make that shot something special again. 

How many guys can actually hit that shot with any regularity? Not many. I think that's how it should be. 

- They're making Happy Gilmore 2, which proves Hollywood is completely out of ideas and can’t leave well enough alone. 

- Losing James Earl Jones hurts. He was a true legend.

- Steph Curry’s reaction to seeing Klay Thompson with new Dallas Mavericks teammate Dereck Lively is priceless. 

- Bob Kraft should be in the Hall of Fame. 

- Lately, I've been buying the generic brand of waxed beans. I rip off the label. I can hardly tell the difference.

- Today’s Bing AI-generated image: A better book to read to children

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