Picks 'n Pops: All-Stars, another bad ending for Butler, and a crappy product

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I'm already over 2025 and looking forward to 2026

- The first All-Star returns are in. 

Jayson Tatum will be a starter. Jaylen Brown will make it. Derrick White deserves to make it, but the odds are stacked against him. It’s going to be hard for him to overcome the fan vote. And that sucks because I’d take White over five of those guys ahead of him. 

- LaMelo Ball is the social media superstar for a modern generation. He is flashy and his Instagram and TikTok highlights are incredible, but this is his fifth season and the Hornets are in no way appreciably better than they were before drafting him. He has not elevated anyone’s game. But he gets his, so he’s popular. 

(He is one of the five)

- One stat that told me how bad the defense was against Indy in their loss, and how much things turned around vs. Toronto: They had just eight deflections against Indiana. They had 23 against Toronto. They had 16 against Minnesota. 

- Tatum gets the softest technical fouls. He gets them for claps and waves while Draymond Green goes on full-on toddler meltdowns without one. Tatum should definitely understand the situation and not do that stuff, but I also have no idea why the whistle is so quick on him.  

The league rescinded the tech today.

- It’s funny how things never end well for Jimmy Butler and whatever team he’s on.

The problem is obviously Butler. He never believes it's his fault, and the second things aren’t going his way, he stomps out of town. It's like the saying goes, if you run into a jerk in the morning, you've run into a jerk. If you run into jerks all day long, you're the jerk. 

The only problem is that there's nowhere to go now. He makes too much money to be traded to a good team, is too old to go to a team on the cusp, and is too disruptive to go to a young team. His best choice is to stay in Miami, but that bridge is engulfed in flames. 

- I bet the NBA loves what’s happening with Butler. This is a cautionary tale to every other star out there. This is not the same environment where pouting stars can poison the water and force themselves wherever they want to go. A team at the top can’t aggregate salaries like they used to, sending Flotsam and Jetsam wrapped up in some draft picks. 

This is the NBA equivalent of leaving a survivor to tell everyone what they saw. Agents are aware of the landscape. If a player is unhappy somewhere, going the Butler route isn't going to get anything done anymore. Players either have to figure it out where they are, or the dealings need to be much quieter, without everything being leaked to the media. 

- I resolved to not do a Celtics New Year’s resolutions piece. 

- Here’s Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and a tiny bit of Kenny Smith proving JJ Redick right by ranting about Redick’s comments about their broadcast while Ernie Johnson is trying to do the Celtics highlights. 

Full rant pic.twitter.com/RnRjgCHJl5

— David Astramskas (@redapples) January 3, 2025

This is such trash and a smack in Johnson’s face. The man is trying to do his job and Barkley is all up in his feelings, making threats about Redick’s job. Instead of NBA fans getting decent analysis about what was a fun basketball game, Barkley is making the show about himself, making threats, and calling the game a “crappy product.” 

The only crappy product is Inside the NBA, which does nothing but degenerate the game people are actively trying to watch. The only time that show is watchable is when Candace Parker, Vince Carter, and others are on to actually talk about the sport. 

And the WORST thing about this rant is it makes me want Redick to succeed. I’ll never forgive Barkley for that. 

- An international crime ring targeting athlete homes is pretty scary. But honestly, I thought all these folks would have better security systems. 

- Ean Horford needs to be paid for the work he does around the Celtics. He’s handing out towels, water, and now helping his dad warm up.

I love that Al Horford is making his kid do the menial jobs. Ean has to learn all aspects of the game and learn to appreciate the hard work that goes into making these games happen. I’m sure Ean’s life is pretty good, but it’s nice to see Horford showing Ean the value of the work. It should tell you a lot about Al’s work ethic. 

- Victor Wembanyama decided he wanted to play some outdoor chess while in New York City, which is very cool and fun. It also led to the tweet of the year for me: 

That line is so simple, but damn it’s a perfectly done joke. 

- I don’t think Joe Mazzulla was joking when he was describing the best kind of shot for Tatum to take with just a few seconds left in a three-point game. 

“In a perfect world, you want to shoot it as high as you can, so it hits the rim and then bounces,” he said. “And then the game expires as you're doing it. Like, you just shoot it as high as you can, but it's got to make sure it hits the rim, and so then the time expires by the time they get the rebound, but that's really hard to do.”

Listen … he’s not wrong. 

I’ve thought about this a lot, and I never understand why a guy doesn’t just underhand whip the ball up towards the rafters in a situation like that. The clock is running. Look at where he is now:

That normal shot took four seconds off the clock by the time it was tracked down. Why not just toss the ball up as high as possible and take even more time off the clock?

I’ll bet the Celtics actually come up with a play to do that before the season is over. 

- The look on Derrick White’s face after banking in the dagger last night was perfect. It was part laughing at the shot going in and part acknowledgment that he was on a such a heater that of course it went in.

- The Denver Nuggets do not deserve Nikola Jokic.

- Mike Brown’s firing was one of the most ridiculous decisions the Kings could have made. They are a joke of a franchise. 

- I predict you won’t see a New Year’s predictions piece.

- Damian Lillard, Trae Young, Jordan Poole, and Tyler Herro are the other four guards. 

- The Oklahoma City Thunder have won 13 games in a row, even though they lost the NBA Cup Finals. That game has disappeared into the ether. At the same time, Isaiah Hartenstein has been incredible for them, and they are 17-1 without Chet Holmgren. 

For being able to stay on a winning streak despite losing a game (and it being a gross, ugly loss), while hitting big on basically every move they’ve made, the OKC Thunder are having the Best Week Ever!

- Here’s this week’s Bing AI-generated image: The Celtics have found something 

This might be the best one yet. It actually spelled "defense" and "lost & found" correctly, it got the C's logo right, and the guy looks sort of like Jaylen Brown. So the name plate on the jersey is weird, not a big deal. It's actually a little scary that AI is picking this stuff up.

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