Pick 'n Pops: Faces of the NBA, selling the C's, and trash talk

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because this is the fifth bullet point that I can add to the email justifying my employment. 

- There's a lot of talk about who the new face of the NBA is. Jayson Tatum is in the mix, but he doesn’t think he’s getting the love he should. 

“If you took the name and the face away from all my accomplishments and you’re just like ‘This is what this Player A accomplished at 26,’ people would talk about (me) a lot differently,” he recently told the Washington Post.

He’s right. I think things would be different if he played before social media. Nowadays, it’s all about wild highlights, great quotes, and arrogance to go viral. Tatum is a healthy meal of grilled chicken, brown rice, and broccoli, but people want fried chicken parm and fries. 

At the same time, Tatum has his own signature shoe, a ton of ads, and he’s only behind LeBron James and Steph Curry in NBA jersey sales. He’s incredibly popular, even though he’s not discussed the way he’d like to be. Some guys just have to wait to get their flowers, which sucks in real time, but is unavoidable. 

And to be clear, I think Tatum was answering a question honestly, not randomly complaining. You can tell it bugs him, but I also think he understands it's out of his control. This is type of stuff he’s up against: 

Yep. He pictures guys smiling and he can’t picture Tatum doing anything, and that's his analysis of the situation. 

There's nothing Tatum can do to fight this kind of stuff besides keep winning and keep improving. Even answering a question honestly like he did just gets people to dig into their positions. But win another championship or two and people will be forced to change their tunes.

- While we’re on this subject, LeBron was dead on when he weighed in on it: 

“Why do you want to be the face of the league when all the people that cover our game and talk about our game on a day-to-day basis shit on everybody?’”

Damn right. It's my biggest problem with the way the NBA is covered, and why I’m hopeful the new TV contract will bring new blood that loves the league. 

Yeah, there are issues with the game. There always are. NFL catch rules are weird and heaven forbid someone breathes on a quarterback, but when stuff like that happens, commentators make their points and move on. I watched TNT’s hockey coverage and everyone on that set loves the sport. NBA coverage sounds like a bunch of Liam Neesons swearing revenge on people who kidnapped their child. 

So every star player who shoots back at it gets a thumbs up from me. 

- At the risk of sounding hypocritical after that rant, face-of-the-league candidate Anthony Edwards showed last night how much he has to mature.

He came into the game against the Lakers with 14 technical fouls, two away from a suspension. He then shoved Jared Vanderbilt, swore at a ref, got thrown out of an important game, earned that one-game suspension, and threw the ball into the stands on his way out. 

He’s a mega-talented guy with a megawatt personality but he continues to hurt himself and the team. They're in a fight to avoid the play-in tournament, but the Wolves dropped from seventh to eighth last night and they play a back-to-back tonight in Utah without Edwards. A loss to the Jazz would be squarely on his head. I hope he realizes that. 

He’s only 23 years old, but sports demands accelerated maturity from its stars. He has to figure it out quickly to reach his full potential. 

- Joe Mazzulla on Malik Beasley’s celebrations after every basket in Detroit: “He’s earned the right to do that. If you play that way and your team is winning and you feel you’ve earned the right to do that, that’s your choice. That’s on us for allowing him to feel that way. The only way we can control that is by defending him better.”

Back in my day, someone would have trucked him with an “aggressive close-out,” but those days are gone. Today, you just have to step up on defense, take the ball out of his hands, and make sure he doesn’t get clean looks. Joe’s right. If you don’t want him celebrating, then stop him from making shots.

- Still no news on the Celtics sale, which tells me no big names are bidding. Big names make big splashes. Quiet situations like this tell me a bunch of people are working to get the money together. There's no press release for “Potential Celtics ownership group begging Middle East Sovereign Wealth Fund for money.” 

And then there's this from Wyc Grousbeck: “The general idea is that we’re going to have a good period of staying in and then transitioning and trying to do the best thing for the Celtics. We think that might be the right way to do it.”

I will reiterate: The ONLY way I can see a team being sold while the former owner hangs around in a front-facing role is if a current group of owners buys the Grousbeck shares, maybe at a slight discount in exchange for letting Wyc hang around his playground for a while longer. Then that group bundles the minority share and sells that to recoup some of what they paid for the majority stake. 

This is how I said it was going to go from day one. Steve Pagliuca’s declared interest plus this continued public declaration that Wyc is sticking around despite the sale leads me to no other conclusion. 

It also makes this sale very complicated. We should know more than we do by now, which I think we would if this was a normal sale. 

- Congrats to Josh Hart, Flop of the Year candidate. 

He got fined $2,000 for this, but Tony Brothers was two feet from the play, staring at it happening, and he not only didn’t call the flopping tech, he reviewed it for a hostile act. That's terrible.

- I'm just adding a link to my video breakdown of Boston's defense exploiting non-shooters because no one read it the other day.  

- Congrats to Al Horford on his high school jersey retirement

- This is one of the most ridiculous stats you’ll ever see:

Curry hit 12 last night on his way to 56 points. If you’re a sports bettor, take a note: take the over the next time Curry plays on February 27. Not only did he score 56 last night, he had 46 in 2016 and 54 in 2013. 

Maybe I’ll ask Jaylen Brown if that means something cosmically. 

- I hope we haven't seen the last of Gregg Popovich on the sideline, but he’s done for the season after suffering a mild stroke. 

He did just turn 76, so maybe it’s time to just chill out, take a front office advisory role, and enjoy just hanging out at the facility instead of going through the rigors of the regular season. He doesn’t need to accomplish anything else, but I also understand not wanting to quit. 

Quitting is an admission you can’t do it anymore, and guys as competitive as him have a hard time doing that. Also, being around a basketball team is really fun. It keeps you young. It’s the number one reason guys hang around as long as they do. Why would anyone want to leave an environment like that? 

- Speaking of which, Diana Taurasi finally said goodbye at 40 years old. Not only was she one of the best women to ever play the game, she remains an all-time elite trash talker. 

Taurasi can hang with anyone when it comes to talking trash. She’s a true baller, backing up everything she said on the court with her play. She’s earned all the love she’s getting now. 

- Find someone that looks at you the same way Derrick White looks at Jayson Tatum.

- It’s nice to see a classic Marcus Smart moment again. 

I know hackles raise every time Smart gets mentioned. I still like the guy, even though moving him was the right move. 

- Siri, show me one play that sums up the Sixers season. 

It's good that the Eagles won the Super Bowl because I think Philly sports fans might have stormed the Wells Fargo Center at some point. 

Joel Embiid ruined his season by chasing a gold medal and Paul George only just this week said he’s stopping his podcast so he can focus on basketball. 

Think about that. Embiid knew he wasn’t winning a championship so he latched onto Team USA so he could feel like he finally won something. George waited until the Sixers were outside the play-in tournament to say ‘hey, this podcast might be a distraction.’ 

People get on stars for taking a day off here or there, but these two did more to disrespect the fans than any load management ever has. 

- I’ve been laughing at “where my doggies at” for days 

- Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard trying to name musical acts was amazing. 

I'm almost 52 and I was competitive with these guys. I even knew Chappel Roan! Of course, I only knew who she was because a few weeks ago someone mentioned her name and I said to myself “what the f is a Chappel Roan?” and Googled her. Turns out she’s responsible for 82% of ear worms in America. 

- RIP Al Trautwig, a true legend in sports broadcasting. 

- RIP Gene Hackman, who played some of the best characters in movie history. He really was one of one. 

- RIP to the Phoenix Suns, who are absolutely cooked this season after losing to the Pelicans last night. Not only are they 3.5 games out of the play-in with 23 games to play, they are not in the frame of mind to make a run. 

That thing is getting blown up this summer. They have no choice. 

- The Detroit Pistons are six games better than a Suns team built to contend for a title. They’ve won eight in a row, including one over the champs. The league is loving the Pistons, who are having the Best Week Ever. 

- Here’s today’s Bing AI-generated image: With the next seven games at home, it's time the Celtics get serious about defending home court. 

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