Picks 'n Pops: Potential retirements, another new owner, and telepathic revenge

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because it's a dog eat dog world out there and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear.

- A year ago, Al Horford laughed off retirement talk. This year, he had a pained look on his face when asked the question, saying he needed to talk to his family.

I know Horford enjoyed this season up to the losing part. He and his son looked like they were having a blast. Maybe he thought it would end differently, so his answer in the (almost) immediate aftermath was dripping with the regret of losing to the Knicks. 

Or maybe he doesn’t want to do this again without Jayson Tatum. 

I’m watching to see what Horford does as a sign of Tatum’s recovery. If Horford returns, it’s because he feels confident Tatum will be back and he can compete for another title. If he doesn’t, it’s because he doesn’t want to fight through all the stuff he needs to fight through to get ready, just to run into a brick wall at the end of the season. 

- Jayson Tatum finished fourth in MVP voting, his highest finish ever. I thought next year would be his year to contend. If he misses the season and the Celtics flame out, it will set up an MVP season for him the following year if he can be his normal self and the Celtics end up being a good team. 

- I don’t know how Derrick White was not on an All-Defensive team.

- Once upon a time, the revelation that Jaylen Brown was playing through a torn meniscus would have drawn universal praise for toughing it out. Maybe it’s the social media era, but I don’t think people care as much anymore. 

-  I think Brown should get the meniscus repair surgery. Just get it fixed, take your time to heal, and don’t worry about any future repercussions from the surgery. 

- Joe Mazzulla isn’t going anywhere. 

It really is amazing to watch fans scream how nothing is more important than a championship, but when they don’t like the coach, the championship isn’t important at all. There used to be a time when facts or circumstances would change people’s minds.

- I liked this quote from Mazzulla after Game 6: “If you're going to be coaching for a long time, you're going to have a lot more, probably, heartbreaks than you are joyful moments. I think if you look at the perspective, that's just how it goes. So when you step into the arena and you go after something, that's how it goes. It's not due to the weight of everything. It's just most coaches, the ratio of heartbreak to success at the end of the year, you probably have more of those. If you're going to be in it for a long time, you can't expect it to go the way that -- you can't expect it to go your way, you can't expect it to go the way you want it all the time. That's just part of it, and you have to be able to accept those, both of those things. And that's the arena.”

A quote like this is probably why I like Mazzulla and some fans hate him. I like this quote because it’s 100% correct. There are, what, two coaches who can’t relate to this sentiment? 

This is the mentality you’re supposed to have. This is the mentality the Celtics should have had going into the Knicks series. This is the humility to understand that losing and heartbreak is right there, right around the corner, so you’d better make sure you have all the details down before you get into the fight to give yourself the best chance to win. 

Winning isn’t about rah-rah speeches, it’s about being prepared, being confident in your work, and being relentless in your pursuit. 

- It’s so funny to see the Knicks blow a seemingly insurmountable lead in Game 1, at home, and lose in overtime like that. Weird how that happened. 

- The new Celtics ownership group is getting a $1 billion investment from Aditya Mittal, a steel magnate from India and apparently a big Celtics fan. 

That's a lot of money for someone who will not have final say. 

Maybe this is just how buying a $6-$7 billion franchise looks. Maybe I’m the one that's wrong. But I feel like this whole process has involved a lot of scrambling to get the money together. 

- LeBron James said the Celtics looked bored sometimes, which is both a damning statement from an opponent and a trolling jab at a rival at their lowest point. 

- People made a big thing about the Celtics talking to Cooper Flagg at the combine. That is a very common practice, especially for the Celtics. Brad Stevens explained: 

“We can rank who we want to talk to. The people we know who we can’t get in to work out is how we decide who we want to talk to. Otherwise, we may never get to talk to them again. So the only people that come and work out for us are the people that think they’re in a range or bottom of our range, or whatever the case may be.”

So there's no need to talk to the same guys at the combine who might come in and work out for them. They want to hear from the guys who they might never otherwise talk to. Flagg isn’t coming to work out for Boston, so this was their one chance. 

And you take that chance because you never know what kind of impression you’ll make on him. You want to get a sense of how he ticks, but you also want him to know how the team ticks. He’ll be a free agent someday, or maybe a disgruntled star who wants out of his situation. Making an impression now might go a long way later. 

- Aaron Nesmith is the new captain of the All-”Situation Matters” team. Things didn’t quite click for him in Boston and he was nowhere close to reaching his full potential. The trade to Indiana gave him the freedom to become who he is now and get back to being the “absolute sniper” he said he would be. I’m happy to see it work out there, because he wasn’t reaching that level in Boston. 

- I wonder if people believe me now when I said the Pacers were the team that scared me the most.

- Tyrese Haliburton couldn't WAIT to get that choke taunt off. 

- Congrats to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on winning the MVP. I thought it should have been Jokic, but SGA was also incredibly deserving. If anything, it’s a shame these two seasons had to happen at the same time. Not recognizing one of them with an award feels wrong. Though, there is this: 

- If we played a drinking game that required people to take a shot every time it was mentioned that SGA and Nikeil Alexander-Walker are cousins, ESPN’s production staff would all be in jail for mass murder. 

- I’m legitimately sad about George Wendt’s passing. Cheers is my favorite show of all time and knowing that Norm is gone is just … a lot. Norm Peterson is one of the most perfect television characters of all time. Perfectly written, perfectly cast, perfectly executed. We also have this: 

- Lu Dort became every NBA player’s favorite player when he gave Scott Foster a bloody nose. 

- You can say whatever you want about NBA officials, but baseball umpires are by far, the WORST officials in sports. 

That ump went looking for a fight. Get out of your feelings and do your job. 

- Luke Kornet took in a Woo Sox game with his family this week.

Wait … Was Kornet’s “woo woo woo woo” barking, or an elaborate cross-promotion? Was he participating in some sort of subliminal messaging? 

And now, part one of my 774 part investigation …

- Oklahoma City sure looks like a future champion to me. 

- I got pulled into NBC Sports Boston's podcast after the Stevens press conference this week. I don't think Abby Chin agrees with what I'm saying. 

This is here just so you all know that you're not the only ones who make that face at me.

- This week’s AI-generated image: We all know that trading for Jrue Holiday wins you a championship. The Bucks got that magic and so did the Celtics. Now it’s time for Boston to pay it forward, so congrats to whichever new team he goes to. 

- Chris Paul has a long-standing beef with Scott Foster, and he was there at the game when Dort’s arm came crashing down across Foster’s nose. So for telepathically willing an injury to his most-hated officiating foe, CP3 is having the BEST WEEK EVER!

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