Picks 'n Pops: Uncalled timeouts, encouraging recovery, and unmitigated talking

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I need to keep up with the volume of John Wick movies.

- I just love how every rumor season a new crop of “insiders” comes out hiding behind anonymous names begging us to believe their information comes from unassailable sources. 

- Too many people spent last night complaining about a lack of logos, sponsored branding, and other things unrelated to Game 1 of the NBA Finals. There was a lot to watch and unpack, and the ending was incredible. People who didn’t watch for whatever reason missed out on a great night of basketball. 

- If Tyrese Haliburton missed the shot, people would have killed Rick Carlisle for not calling the timeout. But the shot fell, so no one cares. 

- People basically only see three things when it comes to NBA coaching: Did he call the timeout I think he should have called, did they score after a timeout, and did he play the guy I think should have played. That's it. 

- I told you Tom Thibodeau was getting fired when he lost. I just expected the loss to happen earlier. The organization probably made that decision during the Detroit series. 

- None of this is to say Joe Mazzulla is a perfect coach. What I’m saying … what I’m ALWAYS saying … is that he’s really good, and he’s really good at a lot of the things you don’t see. He’s great with the relationship-building that gets guys to buy in. He’s great at distilling the game to its core principles and focusing on what matters.

He does need to develop more of a feel for when to break from the formula, which is something you learn with experience. Every coach is learning that. It’s part of why Thibs got fired.

But even the guys who are seen as great coaches haven't won much. Erik Spoelstra has two rings. That's it. Rick Carlisle, who has done an amazing job in Indy, has one. 

Steve Kerr has four and people dump on his coaching all the time. 

You want to dump Mazzulla? You’d be making a huge mistake because you open yourself up to a bunch of coaches who aren’t any better and before you know it, you have a parade through your front door. You end up like the Phoenix Suns, who are about to hand Devin Booker his SEVENTH non-interim head coach and his fourth coach in four years. 

How is that productive? 

- Zach Lowe nails the coaching discourse: 

- Indiana’s success really changes how people should view that Celtics sweep of the Pacers last year. 

- Damian Lillard, who tore his Achilles tendon at the end of April, is now walking on a zero-G treadmill. The 34-year-old Lillard got his surgery four days after the injury. Everyone heals differently, but this makes me feel pretty good about a 27-year-old Jayson Tatum who got his surgery almost immediately. 

I know I tend to skew positive on a lot of things, but I’m heavily on the positive side on Tatum until I hear otherwise. 

- Here is the full question from Ramona Shelburne and Adam Silver’s answer about the sale of the Boston Celtics:

Q. “We just got done with the Minnesota Timberwolves sale closing. It was a protracted thing that ended up in the courts, got a little messy. I think you’ve said before you don’t advocate for staged deals anymore. What lessons can you learn from how that played out to how the Boston Celtics sale coming up might go through?”

SILVER: “I’d just say that the Boston Celtics deal I don’t think of as a staged deal. They’re still in the process of completing it. It’s really more about a phase-out of current ownership. I think there Bill Chisholm, who is the incoming owner, he’s got to sort of straighten out some affairs in his life and his business. He’s currently located on the West Coast. I think he’s a huge admirer of Wyc Grousbeck and the way he’s been running that team. Obviously their results speak for themselves.

“What he’s working out with Wyc is an opportunity for him, as I said, to learn the business from Wyc, then step in as the principal owner, the Governor of the team. There would then be no switching going forward.”

He has to sort some things out with his life and business? 

It’s probably not a big deal, but once again I come out of a discussion of new Celtics ownership with a raised eyebrow. The sale is getting approved because the Commissioner flat out called Chisholm the incoming owner. We’ll see where it goes from there. 

- Never forget that Gilbert Arenas is a terrible human with terrible takes. His existence in the NBA discourse drags the sport down. Any attention paid to him is a waste of precious moments better spent enjoying life. I will happily judge anyone who enjoys his content because doing so is a reflection of your values. 

- Game 1 of the Finals featured one team that played tight to start and then got back to being themselves, and another team that started out loose and played like themselves but then got tight at the end. 

- ESPN’s halftime show is the only program on TV louder than the commercials.

- People just don’t talk about football this way: 

No one watches the Super Bowl and says “there aren’t enough stars in this game.” No one complains about markets. They just watch the damn game.

This dude really used Kyrie Irving being in a movie to support his case. 

People just say anything to be on TV. 

- Marco Sturm is now the third Boston pro coach to have played for that team in 2008. So Mazzulla better watch his back with Eddie House and Brian Scalabrine in town. 

- On his most recent podcast, Kevin Garnett said it’s not about Big 3s anymore, it’s about eight or nine. Depth is the way to win nowadays. 

- Tweets like this make me understand the old people telling 20-year-old me I didn’t know a damn thing because I didn’t see Oscar Robertson play. 

How old do you have to be to be oblivious to the greatness of Tim Duncan? What’s the youngest someone can be and understand how amazing Tim Duncan really was?

- Silver says the All-Star game will be some version of USA vs. World. That just tells me the four-team tournament is sticking around. Getting eight international All-Stars can be done, but the last few spots can get messy. If players hated the rising stars for getting some of the Sunday spotlight, what are they going to think about a handful of undeserving All-Stars who are taking spots away from others just to fill out an international roster? 

Silver, in his pre-Finals press conference, agreed, saying “I don’t think a straight-up USA versus World makes sense. That’s not what they did in the NHL either. There probably will be some different teams we form. Whether it’s some regional basis for how we combine certain groups of players, because USA players, who I talked about earlier, international is 30% of the league, American players are still 70% of the league.”

- Silver also says the 82-game schedule is here to stay: “I don’t really see the benefit to reducing the number of games. People used to say you should reduce the number of games because it will lead to a reduction in a number of injuries. We have absolutely no data to suggest that. If that were the case, you would think you have more injuries in April than October. We don’t see that. Or you would think you’d see more injuries in the playoffs than you do in the regular season. We don’t see that either.”

I think a reduction in games and some more time off would make regular season games better. I think a 70-game season makes sense, but that's clearly not happening. 

- Rest easy Rocco, Klay Thompson’s famous bulldog, who crossed the rainbow bridge this week. 

I’m the biggest dog lover in the world, and I think one of the cruelties of life is that these creatures who love us unconditionally are only around for a short time. 

- Stephen A. Smith got another show, now on SiriusXM. I don’t get how someone can talk as much as he does. It’s impossible to have an opinion on as many things as he does. There's just no way he is that well-versed in that many things. 

- While we’re here, how many food competition shows do we need?

- This week’s AI-generated image: What it feels like doing a Celtics podcast right now

- Tyrese Haliburton is on a quite a little run, and he capped it with a game-winning shot in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Feels like Best Week Ever material to me. 

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