Picks 'n Pops: C's concern, Jimmy Butler being stuck, and great interview chemistry

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I'm still in shock that Christmas has already come and gone. 

- If I’m breaking it down by percentages, I’m 75% optimistic and 25% concerned about Boston’s December. There are a few things wrapped in that 25%, like wondering if their bad effort on some nights will turn into a bad habit. There's also the injury luck, which seems to be a little worse than last season. And I’m wondering if the Cavs are just having one of those seasons. 

But the bulk of the concern is more centered around Jaylen Brown’s shooting. He’s 32.2% shooting from 3. He’s had one 33.5% shooting season, so there is precedent for a bad year, and he’s a career 36% 3-point shooter, which is average. We’re far enough along where this is a good sample size but not far enough yet to say this will just be an off year. 

The biggest concern is his 51.5% from 2. That's the lowest it’s been since his first two seasons and down 5.5% from last season. He’s taking some tougher shots this year, so maybe he needs to be a little more selective. It’s something to watch.

- Kristaps Porzingis is seriously having some bad injury luck. The slip into a sprained left ankle is less about his history and more about a weird thing that happens, but weird things seem to be happening to him more often. I half expect him to scratch a cornea winking at fans.

- I don’t have much concern about Jrue Holiday, though it’s fair to ask how much age is playing into him slowing down a little to start the season. Personally, I think it’s just him coasting a little to start the season after a long championship run followed by a summer at the Olympics. But at 34, hitting that gas pedal and reaching top speed can take a little longer. 

- I kind of missed Celtics overreactions on social media and in comments sections. I was starting to feel like Tom Hanks after he was rescued in Castaway, sleeping on the floor and flipping through 2023 doom-and-gloom comments just because that's what I was used to for so long. 

- I don’t understand how Caleb Martin’s shots go in. I was in pain watching him take 3-pointers, and not because they were going in. It looks like he’s sneezing every time he jumps to shoot. 

- I know this has been said a lot, but I can’t stress how much teams want to make statements against the Celtics. After the win, Martin said “We're putting the pieces together. We started to figure it out. We haven't had a ton of games with everybody playing. We're still almost 30 games in and trying to get that together. Tonight was a great, great step in the right direction.”

Wins like Philly’s on Christmas can build much-needed confidence that can help carry them for a while. The Celtics can easily blow those losses off and move on, but these opponents are hungry. 

If someone throws a scrap of food onto the street, someone who hasn’t eaten in a couple of days will fight and claw to grab it. Someone who is hungry but just ate a few hours ago isn’t going to have that same fight. 

- The Orlando Magic don’t want to hear anything about bad injury luck. 

- Neither do the Dallas Mavericks after losing Luka Doncic for at least another month. 

- Not a great week for the refs. First, Jenna Schroeder ejected Andre Drummond for something he didn't do... 

... leading to her to admit she F’d up and actually bring him back. 

Then a crew Schroeder was on gave the OKC Thunder the ball on the wrong end of the floor to start the fourth quarter last night. 

Stuff happens, but also … yikes. 

- The Miami Heat released a statement on Thursday, saying: “We usually don't comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear - We are not trading Jimmy Butler.”

It turns out that's the second draft of the statement. The first draft was “We looked around but no one is making a decent offer, so unless a team comes up with something serious - We are not trading Jimmy Butler.”

Miami has the leverage. Brooklyn is the only team with the cap space to sign Butler this summer if he declines his $52 million player option. Butler can try to bluff Pat Riley with rumors that he is interested in signing there, but Brooklyn would also have to want him, and he makes no sense for them. 

This is the kind of player power play that this CBA was meant to prevent. We keep hearing about parity, and this is one of the ways it shows itself. 

The second apron acts as a de facto salary cap, with only a couple of teams willing to make the polar plunge into it. And because teams don’t want to be hard-capped, players won’t be able to call their shots in trades nearly as often as before. Butler can leak interest in Phoenix all he wants but they're stuck. 

Cap space is at a premium, so if a player wants his big payday, the timing of his free agency will determine which select few teams will have the money for him. This year it’s Brooklyn and a few other not-so-great teams. The sign-and-trade days to make players happy are mostly over. 

Where does this leave Butler? Picking up his player option this summer and trying the trade route again. His options still won’t be great, and I don’t think another big contract is coming his way no matter where he goes. He’ll be 36 next season and then 37 as a free agent the year after. Who is paying him big money now? If he can’t make it work with Erik Spoelstra and Miami anymore, why would a team believe he’s a difference-maker somewhere else? 

- The Atlanta Hawks scored 50 points in the fourth quarter against Chicago last night while the Memphis Grizzlies put up 155 points against Toronto. And before anyone cries about 3-pointers, Memphis only hit 18 of them and scored 72 points in the paint. They got 62 points from their bench. 

- Christmas was a bad day for the “NBA is dying” crowd. 

I hate that the conversation is becoming “NFL vs. NBA” as much as it has. The sports are different. The dynamics of the games are different. If you try to watch an NBA game the way you watch an NFL game, you’d miss half of what happened. 

The beauty of the NFL is that it’s appointment television where a bunch of fans can get together for a few hours, mostly on a day off from work and mostly in the middle of the day. They can watch a play and then spend 30 seconds savoring and debating it before the next play happens.

You can literally run to the fridge for a new beer and get back before the next play happens. If you get lucky and there's a penalty, you can get a whole plate of food without missing a thing. 

The NBA is on every night starting at 7:00 or 7:30, the best teams are out West, so most people in this half of the country aren’t staying up that late just to watch Nikola Jokic on a Tuesday. And if you do stay up and you happen to look down at your phone for a minute, you can miss an 8-0 run. 

It’s different. There's no way the NBA can compete with how the NFL is set up.

- Draymond Green tried…

I’m so happy that didn’t work. It’s much better to point and laugh at Draymond for it than point and laugh at the refs for falling for it.

- Oh no, De’Aaron Fox. 

Jaden Ivey is one pass away but Fox doesn’t react until Ivey catches the ball. That's horrible defense already, never mind biting on the fake and fouling the 3-point shooter in a 3-point game. 

This is the difference between good teams and mediocre or bad teams. Fox is a great athlete capable of so much on the floor, but if you can’t make the most basic defensive play, you’re going to lose a lot more than you win. 

Also, I'm sorry to say that the KANGZ are back. For those who don't know, the KANGZ are the bumbling version of Sacramento's basketball team. The Kings are good. The KANGZ lose games like this. 

- In honor of the bar fight between the Magic and Celtics this week, here’s the classic Kevin Garnett interview after a bar fight win in Orlando: 

The KG/Craig Sager chemistry will never be matched.

- Shout out Jeremy Swayman for being cool: 

- The Celtics have lost two in a row for the first time this season and some of the negative chatter is back. Their December numbers aren't where we expected them to be, and Boston is closer to third than first. It's a little rough for Boston right now, which makes this wonderful for Celtics haters, who are now having The Best Week Ever!

Seriously, Celtics, give me something to work with here. My timing for this feature really couldn't be worse. 

- Your current NBA Belt champions … the Cleveland Cavaliers … again: 

- This week’s Bing AI-generated image: C’s fans starting to sweat a little?

I think they sell "Palling" basketballs at Dollar Tree.

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