Picks 'n Pops: Tatum trending, buy-in, and a must-have shirt

Every week, I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because I also didn't really do anything at the Winter Meetings. 

- The more I think about it, the more I realize how badly Milwaukee needed that game last night. I don’t think jobs were on the line, but any thread of being able to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo has to hinge on them figuring this season out. They had a desperation that Boston didn’t. 

- Jayson Tatum looks good. Between the videos he’s been releasing and the few times we’ve seen him at the end of practices, Tatum looks like he’s on track to return this season. 

Which means it’s time for me to reiterate that if he’s healthy and cleared, he should play. Whenever that is, whatever Boston’s situation, Tatum should play when he’s healthy and cleared to play. 

As far as I’m concerned, this regular season ends when Tatum returns, and the 2026-27 preseason begins. I don’t care about this little run Boston is on in December, nor do I care that they are in the middle of the Eastern Conference pack. I’m being realistic about this team. 

I just want Tatum to come back, knock off the rust, and get some reps with the new guys. I want him to figure out what he has and doesn’t have after the injury. Then I want him to take all the information into the offseason and prepare for next season. 

Now, if Tatum returns in March and, a month later, it’s obvious he’s enough of himself that he can help the Celtics make a playoff run, so be it. I’m not really considering that possibility, but if that happens, then this season is a bonus. What I don’t want is for him to get caught up in playoff hysteria and overdo it. So as long as he’s handled appropriately, which I believe the organization will obviously prioritize, then I’m okay with it. 

And let me just build on that last point for a second: Anyone thinking this team would do anything to put Tatum in jeopardy is insane. There aren’t any other paths for the Celtics. There isn’t a free agent coming. There's no trade for a superstar. Their only chance at another championship is Tatum and Jaylen Brown working together. They won’t do anything to jeopardize that. So if Tatum is playing, you better believe it’s because multiple doctors and trainers said he could.

- The Celtics front office was voted second-best in the league in an Athletic survey of NBA teams. No one is catching the OKC Thunder, who have gamed the system to a point where only a meteor strike could derail their dynasty. But Brad Stevens’ quick-strike championship in the face of the second apron felt like Indiana Jones escaping the boulder, and his ability to find scrap-heap guys and what looks like draft hits at the end of the first and second rounds makes him an obvious non-Sam Presti choice. 

- The next time you think about saying “fire Joe Mazzulla,” keep in mind that he’s one of the league’s highest-paid coaches. According to a new report by Sportico, Mazzulla is making $11 million per year, tied for fourth in the league with Doc Rivers, Ime Udoka, and Rick Carlisle.  

- There's a lot of talk about what Jordan Walsh’s nickname should be, which is a great way to never get him a nickname. Those happen organically. Shaquille O’Neal told reporters after facing the Celtics that Paul Pierce was the truth, and next thing you know, “The Truth” stuck. People say things along the way, and one of them sticks. That's it. Trying too hard almost never results in anything. In fact, the harder people try, the worse they get. 

- I couldn't resist photoshopping Mazzulla onto Dagobah to train with Yoda.

I don’t think Mazzulla would turn to the dark side, but he’d definitely challenge the way of the Jedi and say the Sith do some things well. At the same time, “do or do not, there is no try” might be the most Mazzulla movie quote ever. 

- Payton Pritchard’s quote on buying into what Mazzulla is selling is incredible. 

“For the most part, I buy in because I want to play. I have never really been in the position in the pros where if I wasn’t bought in, I probably wasn’t playing. So I’m bought in.”

I liked Mazzulla’s response. 

“The buy-in doesn't come from, ‘They have to listen to me.’ The buy-in comes from, ‘This is what we have to be, this is our identity, this gives us the best chance to win. We all have to get on the same page about how we're willing to do that.’ And that's a little bit of me, it's a little bit of the players, a little bit of the staff, a little bit of the building. 

“So, ‘buy-in’ is an overused term. That's a trigger word that people use to do that. To me, it's more about are we aligned in the identity that we're trying to create that gives us the best chance to win? And that's going to change every year. It could change in the middle of the year. So that's really what it is. And to this point, we have a clear understanding of who we are and who we need to be. It's a matter of can we execute that on a daily basis?”

- The Celtics are the worst team in the NBA when it comes to free-throw differential. 

I’m fine with this. Outside of Brown, this team is not built to draw fouls. The alternative is getting to the rim and getting blocked, and that is one of the most damaging things that can happen. Misses at the rim always lead to odd-man breaks. 

I can’t wait until the world catches up to this and doesn’t just think “well, at least they got to the rim.” 

- At this point, I just felt bad for Sam Hauser last night. 

He’s shooting 34.2% from 3 this season. On December 12 of last season, he was shooting 36.7%, but he ended up at 41.6%. He’s never shot less than 40% from 3 for a season in his life. I’m going to bet on history here and say he figures it out.

- I just don’t think the NBA Cup is going to catch on. Some things just don’t work in American sports. 

The Celtics played a cup game this season and I just plain forgot to mention it anywhere, and no one said anything. Not here, not in the podcast comments, and not on social media. No one in the three years of the Cup has asked me to analyze Boston’s chances. No media outlet has had me on to break down their Cup performance. 

No Cup-focused podcasts have sprung up organically. No young person is on Twitch streaming about Cup games. No random social media accounts have risen to prominence by focusing only on the Cup. 

No major media outlets have gone out of their way to create Cup-branded programming. ESPN.com’s NBA page does not have a separate NBA Cup tab, There is no Cup merchandise anywhere. In all my pre-game conversations at TD Garden with fans, coaches, and executives, nothing aside from the design of the floor has been mentioned with regard to the Cup.

There isn’t a single thing anywhere that has popped up to show there is tangible interest in the NBA Cup. There is no money-making entity trying to capitalize on the excitement for it. There is no youthful exuberance for it anywhere that I can see. 

No one cares.

- I need this shirt the Spurs were wearing after beating the Lakers Wednesday night. 

Luke Kornet is a national treasure.

- The Lakers had both Luka Dončić and LeBron James active, Marcus Smart hit 8 3-pointers, and they still lost to the Spurs without Victor Wembanyama? 

- Oklahoma City looks unstoppable, but they're not invincible. Even if they win this season, something always comes along in the modern NBA to knock teams off their perch. Any suggestion that OKC is going to be at the top for a decade is ludicrous. 

- No one should be trading for Anthony Davis. I would have said that before this new apron system, but the new CBA makes giving up assets to add Davis to your team untenable. There is no margin for error when using a max salary slot for a player. Teams basically get two now, and if one of those is a miss, then things can get derailed in a hurry. 

That means Nico Harrison’s biggest mistake wasn’t just not opening up the Dončić talks to the whole league; it was not understanding how damaging relying on the injury-prone Davis would be in this new era. 

- It’s gutting to hear Jason Collins talk about his Stage-4 glioblastoma. Collins might have thought he was put on this earth to play basketball, but I think he’s here for much more. First, teaching people that being gay in sports should not mean anything more or less than being straight. Second, leading a battle against the most aggressive form of brain cancer and using his resources to publicly try something not available under the U.S. healthcare system as a way of potentially opening up new treatments for others. 

I admire Collins for his bravery. If anyone deserves to beat the odds, it’s him. 

- Will Hardy’s message to his Utah Jazz is not for the faint of heart. There might be more f-bombs in this clip than Jazz wins this season. 

This is the danger of tanking. I understand why it works. I know Wembanyama and most of the OKC Thunder are proof that you can power through moments like this, but a losing culture is a tough spiral from which to escape. 

- The Lakers found a loophole to avoid using their NBA Cup court. Have a bunch of players say it’s slippery, return it, and then just use their own court. 

- Parents prepare their kids to enter the world, but they don’t prepare their kids to be middle-aged. No one told me 52 would involve this much shaving of my ears, and that bothers me. What the hell is it doing there in the first place? And why is it so aggressive?

- Happy 100th birthday, Dick Van Dyke.

- Jaylen Brown is the Eastern Conference Player of the Week and he’s up to fifth on the NBA.com MVP ladder. Brown is having an incredible season and he’s getting some recognition for it. Oh, yeah, sure, he won a championship and a Finals MVP, but I’m pretty sure THIS is his Best Week Ever!

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