Picks 'n Pops: An instant impact, traveling, and hair products

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because my hair paint budget was getting too damn high.

- I’m all in on the Josh Minott experience. I think he’s exactly what this team has needed for a while, and I think they should keep him long-term. 

The good news is that the team holds an option for next season, so he can come back on the cheap for one more season. But I’d love to see him sign a longer-term deal. Some might call it an overreaction, but I think the process of how he’s playing is what’s good, not just the results. 

Also, he loves it here already. 

He can be a cult hero here. 

- According to NBA.com tracking data, Minott spent 7:05 covering Evan Mobley. In that time, Mobley shot 0-6 and scored one point. The only Cav to make a basket on Minott in the game was Donovan Mitchell, but Minott also forced a Mitchell turnover in limited action. The rest of the Cavs, including Mobley, were 0-11. 

On top of that, the NBA credited Minott with a 15th rebound after reviewing the game. Hell of a night. 

- Steven Adams and Jalen Duren are the league’s two most prolific offensive rebounders. Adams grabs 10% more offensive rebounds than Duren, and we just saw what Duren did to the Celtics. 

I’m just saying Saturday night might be a tough one for the Celtics. 

- A win against Philly tonight would be huge for the Celtics as it would likely make them 3-4 to start the season. Considering I was afraid of an 0-7 start to the season, that would be a massive win. They also have a stretch of four games against Utah, Washington, and Orlando twice, all of which are winnable games. 

If we allow for the “it’s tough to win two in a row in a city” thing, A 3-1 run through that week would put Boston at 6-5 after 11 games. 

This start to the season sets the tone for how the rest of the season will be played. If they stumble in Philly, get worked by Houston, and then fall flat against the bad teams to start 2-9 or 3-8, then decisions about how much winning the team really wants to do would have to be made. 

A 6-5 start, though, puts them right on track for a middle seed in the playoffs. Going 6-5 through every 11 games would put them at 42-35 with five games left in the season. That would put my prediction of 44 wins and sixth seed well within reach with four home games against Toronto, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Orlando on the schedule (and a road game in New York). 

This season really is like flying a small plane through a storm and trying to make a decision whether to keep going or try to land on a highway. It’s like that decision is being made over and over again every five minutes. 

- My week on Twitter was dominated by this debate over whether Giannis Antetokounmpo traveled. 

The answer is: No, he did not. And I know why you think he did. 

The ball is still live as it is spinning in his right hand. At that point, he is still legally allowed to continue his dribble, which means he can take as many steps as he wants. I did a whole story last season about Payton Pritchard’s ridiculous step-back 3-pointers. One of them looked like this: 

The same rule applies to both guys. Players call that “floating” the ball, and it’s a skill they’ve developed to bend the rules to their favor. Since the ball hasn’t come to a rest, they can stutter step and take a dozen steps while the dribble is still live. Once they gather it, that's when the count starts. 

There is some debate about whether Gianni’s gather is at the end of the spin in his right hand or when the left hand touches the ball, but that happened so quickly in real time that it’s hard to call. Either way, the first few steps you see aren’t counted towards the “one, two” step after the gather. 

Giannis is basically the only player who can bend the rule this badly. I know exactly how it looks, and it’s not great. Most players aren’t making this play, so I don’t know if the league would do anything to address this kind of play. They can, though, make a simple tweak to end this debate once and for all. 

Just make a gather after multiple steps without dribbling illegal. Players could still float the ball and take a bunch of steps while the dribble is live, they just would have to dribble again or shoot before taking two steps. 

So in this play, Giannis would still be allowed to do everything he did until he gathered the ball. At that point, he’d either have to pull up for a jumper or he’d have to dribble one more time to gather the ball and take two steps. 

Instead of getting mad at a play like this, I look at it in kind of amazement that whenever there's a gray area to exploit an interpretation of a rule, players find a way to pull at that string and take advantage. I guess it’s no different than, say, finding holes in a tax code to get an extra write-off or something … which I know nothing about. 

- Teams are pressing more. 

I think the second apron is a part of this because teams have to build deeper, cheaper rosters. The Celtics are pressing more because of their talent drain, trying to make up for other deficiencies by forcing more turnovers and making the opponent start their offense later in the clock. 

The byproduct of this is that there will be less set offense and more motion, read-and-react stuff happening. That's going to put a premium on smart, detail-oriented players who can make quick reads and decisions. 

It might lead to a lot more early offense like we’ve seen from Derrick White. We might start seeing the first good look go up a lot more often just because the pressure is giving teams less time to search for the “good-to-great” ball movement. 

It’s an interesting trend to monitor. Whenever trends like this start to happen, the types of players teams value start to shift. Couple all of this with the new salary cap pressures, and I think the league is in the midst of an evolution right now. 

- I’m a sucker for a good backdoor cut. 

- Congratulations to Baylor Scheierman on getting his team option picked up for next season. It’s been a tough start to the season, but I like that he’s still doing little things to get on the floor. I thought he had a nice stretch guarding Donovan Mitchell in the second half of the Cavs game

- NBC Sports Boston stats guru Dick Lipe is a very nice, unassuming gentleman. But he hit Zion Williamson with a statistical chair shot out of nowhere this week. 

This came out of nowhere, and it was amazing. 

- Jaylen Brown tried to take a charge against the Cavs. It’s something I’ve been looking for them to do. 

I’m not saying Jaylen sees me a basketball hero or anything, but I’m not not saying it, either. I

Hey JB, I know your hairline has been the butt of some jokes this week. I have some thoughts about that as well, if you’d like. 

- If you missed it, this video of Brown’s head rubbing up against OG Anunoby’s jersey and leaving some kind of residue behind is what started the hair talk. Inside the NBA roasted Brown for it, too.

I’m with Charles Barkley on this. Embrace it. Derrick White did and I think he looks great. There's nothing wrong with losing your hair. Bald is beautiful. 

- The Spurs are 5-0. Victor Wembanyama is about to take this league over. 

- Wishing OKC’s Nikola Topic well as he battles testicular cancer. 

The good news is that it’s highly treatable, and hopefully he will be fine. 

- Kenny Atkinson was late meeting the Boston media on Wednesday. 

Can confirm. 

Boston traffic is worse than ever. I don’t understand how it can keep getting worse, but I’m sick of hearing “heavier than usual traffic” from my GPS. 

- Derrick White got his first actual technical foul of his career, which regular tech-getter Jayson Tatum celebrated on the sidelines. Tatum had been joking that White needs to get his street cred with a tech. I’d argue that Tatum needs less street cred. 

- At least he’s not LaMelo Ball, who flipped off a ref. That cost him $35,000. 

I don’t think he’s ever going to get it. Some people have said he’s showing signs of getting away from the insanely selfish shot selection. I say it’s his sixth season in the NBA, and if he hasn’t figured it out by now, then he probably won’t. 

Charlotte isn’t going anywhere with him on the roster. 

- The Chicago Bulls are undefeated, just like we all thought they’d be.

- A fan in Minnesota yelled out, “who is number 12?” to taunt Jake LaRavia. Anthony Edwards chimed in. 

The answer is: Number 12 is the guy that dropped 27 and 8 to beat you guys. 

- Joe Mazzulla is still tinkering with rotations, and they might just be a situational thing all season long. But this week, Josh Minott got the first two starts of his NBA career and he made the most of both. He loves Boston and Celtics fans are starting to love him right back. 

Maybe it took the hard times in Minnesota to unlock this side of him. Maybe they just didn’t use him the right way. All I know is this guy is doing exactly what is asked of him, and having the Best Week Ever! 

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