Picks 'n Pops: Non-patterns, non-fun, and a much-needed win

Every week, I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I am very well aware of what fun is and how to have it. 

- Joe Mazzulla was asked how he feels about his substitution pattern so far this season. 

“What substitution pattern?” 

Well, yours. 

“There hasn’t been one. There's been no pattern … “Can’t be a pattern if there is no pattern.”

Touche. 

There is, of course, some kind of plan, at least heading into games. It’s just that once the games start, the plan get thrown out the window. There just aren’t enough guys who are consistently good enough to say anyone is guaranteed to play a set amount of minutes at specific times in games. 

Sometimes when a certain lineup is working, Mazzulla has to just ride it for what it’s worth because you never know when these guys will be that good together again. So if the plan was for a player to play five minutes and he has it going, then he has to play a few more until those wheels fall off. 

- Jaylen Brown only played 10 minutes in the first half of Boston’s win in Brooklyn. He took it as Mazzulla “holding me to a higher standard” … essentially believing he was benched because he was playing like crap. 

That's not what happened, but I think that's what Brown needs to believe so he can find a way to push himself. He can’t accept the reality of Mazzulla just rolling with a lineup that had been working and giving it a little extra time. No, it has to be because he sucked and Joe was sending a message. 

Whatever it takes to get motivated. I’m impressed by people who can play tricks on themselves like that. I try, and the other side of my brain just looks at me and says “you know I’ve been here the whole time you’ve been hatching this plan, right?” So I don’t know how they do it. 

- Jaylen talking about his left hand, failing in the Conference Finals, and then winning a championship is incredibly interesting. 

I wish he’d be that open with us in the media. He’s gotten a lot better, but sometimes I think his facade does as much to fuel misguided narratives as anything because people are only reacting to limited information. 

- The Celtics remain engaged in the trade market, but I don’t think they're aggressively shopping for anyone in particular. I think they're looking to get involved in a multi-team deal to pick off a useful piece while a bigger name goes somewhere else. 

I keep looking at Santi Aldama in Memphis just because I feel like Ja Morant has to move. I have no intel that says Aldama, who is 24, would even be available, but once I get fixated on a guy I can’t drop it. Plus he’s just obscure enough that if it doesn’t happen, I can just drop it. 

But if it DOES happen, I’ll pull a hamstring doing a victory lap. I’m very pro-victory lap. And I’ll owe it all to little chocolate donuts. 

- One under-discussed element of Neemias Queta’s increased role is the increased wear on tear on his body. Big guys have to run from baseline to baseline on every possession, bang with everyone on the floor either by setting picks or boxing out, and then make all the same mental plays on top of it. 

There's a physical toll on everyone, but bigs get it in a different way, which forces him to be diligent about his recovery.

“Just making sure you’re more locked in in the weight room, just trying to keep getting stronger, taking care of your body, getting treatment with the guys, going and getting cold tub sessions and saunas, all that stuff really adds up,” he said at practice yesterday. “ We’re not even a quarter of the way into the season and you see a lot of injuries happening in the league and you’re just trying to be on top of your stuff as best as you can and you’ll be more prepared for the rest of the year.”

- Even if the Celtics think starting Anfernee Simons would be better than Payton Pritchard, they’d never make the switch while Pritchard was struggling. Mazzulla would never make Pritchard live with a narrative that he can’t be a starter. Waiting until Pritchard is back on track makes the most sense because at that point it can just be sold as a move that's best for Simons and the team. 

Love him or hate him, Mazzulla is going to stand by his guys. That's part of why he owns the locker room. 

- Mazzulla was asked by a child reporter for Sports Illustrated how he balances pushing his players to get better while still having fun. His answer was priceless:

“I struggle with that to be honest with you. I think everyone has a different definition of fun, and you have to find one as a team. I think fun is a cop out sometimes. When things aren't going well, everybody likes to say, 'Well, let's just have fun.' And it's like, 'Well, what does that mean?'  I think you have to define what fun looks like as a team, and then you kind of have to go after that. But that phrase can be a cop out sometimes, so as you get older, kid, don't use it. Say 'I just want to have fun,' it's like, well, what does that mean? So, you've just got to define that. It's a good question. I struggle with that.”

First of all, I think the answer itself is interesting and on point. At the same time, a child asked him about keeping basketball fun and he drops this deep, intense quote. He comes off like a conspiracy theorist screaming “don’t be a sheep!”

I guess he proved his own point. 

- There are nine teams with five or fewer wins right now: Memphis, LA Clippers, Dallas, Charlotte, Sacramento, Brooklyn, New Orleans, Indiana, and Washington. 

Of those, All but Washington and Brooklyn came into the season hoping to win games. This isn’t a tanking problem. This is a dumb decision and/or bad injury luck problem. 

- Happy Birthday to this 105-year-old fan, who was a full-on adult when Walter Brown created the Boston Celtics. 

- And hey, also shout out this guy: 

He won a Corona prize pack, which is probably just a bunch of skunky beers and a bag full of limes, but the crowd loved the last-second make, and that was fun. He’s already proven to be better in the clutch than the Celtics. 

- Jordan Walsh revealed that Jaylen Brown went to bat for him before he picked up a bigger role. Walsh has also shown up on Brown’s Twitch stream, including a segment where named his five best defenders and excluded Marcus Smart, which led to Brown pulling up old Smart clips. 

I’m not calling Brown an old man. He’s 29. At the same time, there's no bigger old man move than calling up clips of someone to educate a much younger person. That's the 2025 version of sitting on the rocking chair on the porch recalling stories of Oscar Robertson for the kiddos.  

- The top of the standings, with the Pistons at 13-2 and the Raptors 10-5, is working out exactly how we all thought, right? 

The Raptors will level off. The Pistons will too because winning 87% of the time is impossible for everyone who doesn’t employ Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But how much will they level off? And do they make any moves to go for it now or do they let the process play out. 

People want to compare the Pistons to last year’s Thunder, who traded for Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein to boost their run to a title. But they're actually more like the previous year’s Thunder, who were also very good but still figuring themselves out. 

Those 57-win Thunder lost in the second round, getting a good look at what they really needed to do. I think the Pistons should follow the same approach. Then they can make their trades this summer and see if Cade Cunningham can take a more well-balanced roster on a deep run. 

The Celtics need to take notice of Detroit and make sure they account for the Pistons when trying to figure out which players to pursue. 

- Tyrese Maxey is being pushed hard and is having an incredible start to the season. For his sake, I hope he’s not being pushed TOO hard in Philly. 

- Domantas Sabonis might be the most beloved good player that no one wants on their team. 

- NBA ratings are up to their highest point in 15 years. Social media views hit 30 billion across all platform, the most ever to this point of any season. Sales at the official store are up, as are League Pass subscriptions. 

Maybe it’s the added national TV games with the move from TNT to NBC. Maybe there's some curiosity factor with the NBC and Amazon broadcasts. Maybe it’s because those broadcasts are largely positive and don’t involved former players breaking the games down instead of doing nothing but complain. 

Or maybe it’s as simple as the games have mostly been good. 

I think the vibes around the league have been less complaining about the product and more celebrating it. I think young stars like Victor Wembanyama, Cade Cunningham, and Tyrese Maxey are fueling interest. And I think all of this is giving the league’s front office a much-needed win after the Kawhii Leonard investigation and the gambling scandal. It might not last long, but at least for now, Adam Silver is having the Best Week Ever!

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