It is the JR Sportbreeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, we just had the NBA Championship on Sunday, we have the draft on Wednesday, and the team that won the championship last year has been very, very active. Some good and some bad. We know in the playoffs they lost two of their star players' injuries, who had surgeries, and now they're shedding salary. A lot of question marks about the Boston Celtics moving forward this upcoming season, what we can expect seasons after this. Joining us right now with someone who covers all things Boston Celtics, SB Nation, elsewhere is Noah Dalzell. Noah, how are you?
I'm great. It has been a very busy couple of days here covering the Celtics, that's for sure. Absolutely. What we all learned about Chris Staps Porzingis getting moved to the Atlanta Hawks last night, we learned about Drew Holliday being moved to the Portland Trail Blazers. What's the overall vibe of the Celtics fan base? They knew this was coming, but now that this is a reality, what have you noticed about the fan reaction?
Yeah, I think it depends on which fans you're asking. If you're asking the most hardcore fans that understand how the second apron works and how the luxury tax works, I think everybody knew there were going to be some key players departing this offseason, and I actually think that they've done a pretty good job of not parting ways with any draft picks, getting a young promising player back in return, and keeping your core for now of Jalen Brown and Derek White. I think if you ask the average person that watches Celtics games and you tell them the Celtics just traded Porzingis and Drew Holliday for Anthony Simons and Georges Niang, they're like, what was that? So it depends on who, but certainly I think those of us that are very clued in and I kind of understand how things go, which is a lot of the people that consume my work with CNS media, like they understood this was coming. Noah Dalzell is here with us, covers the Boston Celtics. Knowing that this was coming, you didn't know what was going to come in return, okay? And Kristaps Porzingis, it's okay, fine.
Georges Niang is here, you'll probably be gone in the next day or so, who knows? You picked up a second rounder. In the case of Drew Holliday, you get back Anthony Simons, and a lot of people haven't seen him play being up in Portland.
We know he likes to score the basketball. What can we expect from this roster, forget next year, what can we expect the rest of the way, the next several months as they round out the roster dealing with all these injuries? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, if they keep things as they currently are, and there is a case that you made that these were the two big moves, and maybe there's going to be some moves around the margin, but now they've achieved their financial goal of getting below the second apron, which is the financial special that everybody kind of knew they were going to have to get below. Then you have a team that is going to be spearheaded by Jalen Brown, Derek White, Peyton Prichard, who I think a lot of people expect will take another leap after her sixth man of the year season last year. Then you're going to have to see guys like Baylor Shireman show that they can be kind of trustworthy rotation players.
The best thing you have going for you is that you play in the Eastern Conference, and there are two other top Eastern Conference teams that are actually in the same exact position of losing their star player in eruption Achilles in this postseason, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. But it's also possible that another move is coming. If Derek White or Jalen Brown are traded in the coming days, which I think is a possibility, but probably not the most probable one, that to me is kind of like they're no longer prioritizing staying competitive right now, and they're doing more of a hard reset than I expected. These two moves are pretty predictable, but it's the other few players on the roster that I'm not sure about their fate that will kind of determine how competitive this team will be moving forward. Given Jalen Brown's gigantic, massive contract, more than $300 million, and then also the knee injury and knee surgery that he just had, do you think there are a realistic possibility of somewhere where he might end up?
Absolutely. I think a lot of people talk about Jalen's contract, but Jalen Brown is a final of NDP, an Eastern Conference final of NDP, a multiple-time All-Star that's still in the prime of his career. And while those kind of seemingly grow in trees in Boston, we've had so many great players wear Celtics jerseys that sometimes Jalen Brown was just another one of those great players. For a lot of franchises, this could be your chance to get a very good basketball player that does it on both ends, that is proven as a proven playoff performer. So I think that there are teams out there that might just say, you know what, this might be our only chance in the next few years to trade for a multiple-time All-Star that can do it at the highest level. There's also potentially teams like see the Houston Rockets, who just made a move to acquire Kevin Durant. They're in the mix for a championship next year. They already were a top two seed last year. Maybe they're looking at their young prospects and saying, you know what, we have Durant. We've already kind of put it all in right now.
Let's make another win now move and turn some of those young prospects and future draft picks into Jalen Brown. So I think there's definitely going to be a market out there for him. But the question is, is there going to be an offer that's going to compel Brad Stevens to effectively trade away one of the two players that has been the cornerstone of this franchise for much of the last decade?
And I don't know that that kind of offer is going to be out there. Noah Dalzell is here with us. Covers the Boston Celtics. You're listening to the JR Sport re-show on the Infinity Sports Network. Since he had his knee surgery and we all know about Tatum and his Achilles, has there been any type of updates about any of these guys or too early? Yeah, what I can tell you that I know is that Jason Tatum has been working at the Auerbach Center, the practice facility, on a very regular basis tirelessly with his trainer. We've had multiple players on our show, the Garden Report, Torrey Craig, Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheinman, guys that have been in and around the facility and that's been the report is that he is just there and he's in good spirits. Jalen Brown I've caught up with a couple times. Saw him most recently on Thursday. He had surgery a week prior. He was walking around with a crutch and I think it looked like he was moving pretty well as that nigga's knee was putting weight on it. So I don't think that his surgery is one that's going to impact him deep into this off season and he is slated to be available for training camp.
So I don't think that it's going to go very far. With all the changes going on with the Celtics and changing salaries and we also know that they're changing ownership, how is that process going along right now? Just the ownership process? Yes, Bill Chisholm has taken over.
We learned earlier today it took months for the approvals to take place. How far along in the process are the Celtics in that regard? Yeah, I'm not sure exactly where things are currently. I do know that nothing is expected to really change when the ownership transfers happen which it hasn't officially happened but Wick is going to be the governor. Wick Rosebeck will remain the governor for the first few years and in addition to that I think there's the reality that like people are wondering like is he going to come in and be a Matt Ishby type like the Phoenix Suns owner and come in and just change the way this team is governed.
There's been everything that I've heard about Bill Chisholm has been that he's going to be pretty hands-off and it's kind of deferred how things have been done because there's been sustained winning in Boston for a long time and he doesn't want to come in and disrupt that. So I don't think fans are going to steal his impact and his presence in a negative way the way that you know when the team was first up for sale many feared okay who's going to buy this team and what is that going to mean for the Celtics. Absolutely, I mean it has to feel some of the pain that the team has experienced in the fan base over the past several months has to be blunted a little bit because of the championship. I know the expectations for the Celtics are so high but there at least has to be a little bit of okay at least we won last year for the fan base. Yeah I think so honestly watching Tyrese Halliburton go down in game seven of the end day finals and I was just you know I was just a fan watching at that point you know I don't cover either of those teams. There was something so uniquely heartbreaking about it because you're like I don't know if he's ever going to get to the mountaintop I don't know if he's ever going to be able to bring this city a championship. Watching Tatum go down with this Achilles injury was the worst thing I've ever seen in person at a sporting event and it was the most somber sight like being in the locker room afterwards in Madison Square Garden was just heartbreaking and at the same time there was no feeling of like what if he never does it what if he never gets you know achieves the ultimate the ultimate goal because I just saw him do it last June so you want they wanted to go back to back I think this team this core could have won multiple but the fact that you got one you know I watch enough NBA basketball to know how many great teams talented players never get it done and I think that that should be something that Celtic fans you know are don't take for granted because it ultimately lots of players aren't there and it was just last year but I think they'll be able to get back to that position in the coming years as well I don't think this is the end for this era of Celtics basketball either.
Certainly in a little bit of a transition period losing two pieces that helped them win that championship and Drew Holliday and then Porzingis popping up on occasion here and there. Noah thank you so much for the time please tell everybody where they can listen read watch you're all over the place on the Celtics fill us in. Yeah absolutely thanks for having me you can find my written work at celticsblog.com I have a story actually about Drew Holliday's off court work that you can check out there and then my podcast is the You Got Boston podcast I have regular reactions to everything going on in the Celtics world and actually right now I'll be going back live on CLNS media you can watch our post-game show we react to everything so if you ever want more Celtics coverage you can find it on CLNS media and You Got Boston podcast. Hey amazing chat Noah thank you so much we'll have you on down the line okay. Absolutely thanks for having me. No doubt about it that Noah Dalzell covers all things of Boston Celtics they are certainly in a transition period right now having offloaded Kristaps Porzingis also getting rid of Drew Holliday who knows when Tatum is going to come back and then Brown coming back from his own knee surgery as well.
