Gary Washburn, Boston Globe Celtics Reporter

Look around, what do you see? Cars? Lots of them. And guess what? They're probably on AutoTrader.

Whether you're into timeless classics or the latest trends. Did somebody say solar-powered, eco-friendly, vegan leather-wrapped, aromatherapy-scented, disco-ball-equipped self-driving car? If you see it on the road, you can likely find it on AutoTrader. Big cars, small cars, blue cars, new cars and used cars, electric cars, and one day, maybe even flying cars.

With millions of options to choose from, buying a car becomes a whole lot easier. See it, find it, AutoTrader. It's been a three-year wait, but the Olympics are back and the CBS Sports Podcast Network has you covered with everything happening in Paris. It's a new era for the U.S. women's national team, and Attacking Third will tackle all the women's soccer action. First cut will keep close tabs on golf, while Beyond the Arc will follow the U.S. men's basketball team on a quest for another gold. And We Need to Talk Now will provide comprehensive coverage of women's athletes at the Olympic Games.

Follow and listen to all CBS Sports Podcasts for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. Gary, how are you? Hey, how's it going? It's good.

Good to chat with you. The last time we had a conversation, we were talking about what the Celtics could have done. They did win the championship. So before we get to that, have you had a chance to relax a little bit?

Not particularly, but it's probably a good thing to stay busy. But yeah, to cover a team all the way to the end and see them get that championship after falling short many, many years is definitely a different experience than I've ever had. And now when you see what the 76ers and Knicks have done to try to get at them, it's kind of like the new seasons all starting over again, obviously with the summer league and the new influx of players into the NBA. It never really ends.

Doesn't end and neither do the storylines. I guess my first question to you, Gary, what are your impressions of Derek White making the team over Jalen Brown, who is just finals MVP? Well, I do think they've liked Derek for a long time, Team USA. I think he fits a definite role, a good back court defender, a versatile player, someone who can do a lot of different things. He can score at times and he's going to be a team guy.

You know, you've got a lot of eight personalities on that team. A lot of guys are not used to coming off the bench, are not used to playing maybe seven or eight minutes a game. And I think Derek White kind of fits into that equation of like a guy who is kind of just happy to be here. You don't want people that are kind of brooding in the locker room or saying, oh, I should be playing over him. You just want a guy who when they call on him, he's going to go out there and put in, you know, two, three, four, whatever productive minutes and then go back to the bench. And I think Derek White's a fantastic player.

He deserves this opportunity and I think he'll flourish with it. Gary Washburn joining us from the Boston Globe. Immediately following the replacement, Jalen Brown tweeted out the, hey, I'm paying real close attention to what's going on.

We get a message today where he says, I'm not afraid of your resources. There's comments that he didn't make the team because of some of his criticisms of Nike. Grant Hill says that's not the case. Tell us about Jalen Brown. Obviously, he wanted to play on the team. Is this going to create a new chasm amongst them, the Celtics when they go back in October? I don't think that Jalen Brown has a problem with Derek White making the team.

I don't think he's mad at Derek. I think he's upset with the process because, you know, basically as with a lot of guys around the league, Kyrie Irving, you know, there's several other guys who kind of felt like, well, there's no try out here. We don't get a chance to show it on the court. We just, you know, Team USA just started choosing guys. So it became kind of, you know, just a process that will Grant Hill and, you know, Steve Kerr or whatever just started picking guys and saying, do you want to play? And usually this process does have, you know, a camp and you got maybe, you know, 25 guys going for the 12 spots or whatever. And in this situation, there was no process to where you could make the team.

You just had to get chosen. I think Jalen had a problem with that. I think he has a problem with some of the players who made the team that he feels like he's accomplished more than you look at a Tyrese Halliburton, you know, you look at a Devin Booker and as much as you know, Devin Booker is a prolific score. Jalen proved it on the defensive side. He won the NBA Finals MVP, Eastern Conference Finals MVP.

He looks and he goes, well, you know, why is some of these guys automatically just get these invites and I don't even get a call. So I think he's more upset with the process. And then, you know, on top of that, Kawhi Leonard and I just think we all kind of doubted whether Kawhi was going to go through this. He didn't finish the season with the Clippers because of his knee. Then suddenly his knee is going to, you know, rehabilitate and get 100% right two months later and he's going to play a full Olympic schedule and leave the U.S. to go like everybody kind of knew that was a little bit of a bizarre decision considering he hasn't been healthy in the playoffs the last few years. And then he backs out and then you choose Derek, why you don't, you know, it just seems like and I think Jalen is implying is that they got something against, you know, not even get a call. How about a conversation? How about an explanation?

How about something that says, hey, man, we know what you've accomplished, but this is what we're looking to do. And I just think he feels like some of his, you know, and could you say that Team USA is definitely run by Nike? Some people would say that, you know, a lot of Nike players on that team, I guess, except Anthony Edwards, who's an Adidas guy, and Steph and Indeed are, you know, but you weren't going to deny those guys spots on the team. You're not, if Steph wants to play, regardless if he's underarm or not, you're going to let him on the team. The same with Joel Embiid, he's never been an Olympian.

So I think Jalen feels like he's been, you know, pushed out of this process, maybe for some of his words in the past. He's not, he has no allegiance to shoe companies. He's a shoe free agent. He does wear Nike's, but he only wears Kobe's. It's kind of a tribute to Kobe Bryant.

So I just think he feels kind of the whole entire process. And this was just kind of the straw that broke the camel's back when Kawhi backs out, and he probably didn't even get a phone call. And Gary Washburn joining us from the Boston Globe. You mentioned some of his words in the past, whether it's a defense of Kyrie Irving. We know he was very vocal in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.

It was only a couple of months ago that even Stephen A. Smith was saying, hey, I've heard people that say, you know, he's difficult and he's not well liked. I mean, is he helping himself with the tweets and the messages or is he feeding into this? He probably isn't helping himself. At this point, he probably doesn't care. He's going to be who he is. He's going to be vocal. And I just think that's why he feels like, you know, when he won these awards or NBA finals MVP and he in the Easter conference, he was shocked because he said, you know, I didn't think I was going to win any of this stuff because I'm not, you know, one of these guys who just says whatever people want to hear, I'm going to speak my opinion. You know, he's been strong in the Players Association, you know, in the negotiations with the new CBA. He did support Kyrie Irving's freedom of speech in many cases and kind of maybe not exactly what he said, but just kind of like, well, are we going to start really penalizing guys for retweets? Is that what we're doing here? And I just think that that was a new kind of wrinkle in, obviously, this new social media that we're in.

This is something that the NBA wouldn't have had to deal with 20 years ago, 15 years ago, is social media activity. So, you know, he's had, you know, he's been a person who's strong in his opinion. And I do think as Feudet had a definite point of just saying, like, there's people that don't like him because of that or feel he's got an attitude or, you know, he's not a great personality and he doesn't get a lot of endorsements and things like that. So I think all of this manifests into the situation. And maybe, you know what, maybe just he's not a Grant Hill guy.

This doesn't seem like Grant Hill. You know, sometimes that's why some guys don't make this Olympic team. Before it was Jerry Colangelo.

We can go back to the women's side, 2016, when Candace Parker was out there coming off an MVP and didn't make the 2016 Olympic team. You know, sometimes politics come into this or just personalities or likes and dislikes come into it or this person is going to, you know, affect the chemistry of the team, we think, because of how they are like. We all know this all goes on.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Gary, I want you to hear this clip. I know you've heard I want the audience to hear it. This is from Jason Tatum at his media scrum, where unfortunately, like he's he's being asked questions like people are trying to rip a story or make a story. This is Jason Tatum asking or answering questions about Jalen Brown being left off the team.

Listen to this. Yeah, I mean, there's so many guys that could, you know, take the last spot or whatever. He's being asked, is it disappointing and difficult and hard? And he's just like, why are you asking me these questions? Gary, you're around these guys all the time. Are they still trying to make a story out of this?

Can we, like, put it to bed? Why are they trying to separate these dudes? Yeah, it puts Jason in a real bad spot if he says Jalen should be here and over there at White. It just it's not it's not fair for him to say that. And he's not going to say that.

He's smarter than that. And it puts him in a bad spot. And I just think at this point, there's really not much you could do. And I don't I think Jalen probably needs to talk publicly and say, hey, man, I'm not I got no project there, right?

This is what I have an issue with. And then, you know, Team USA, Grant Hill kind of, you know, well, I wore Fila throughout my career and it wasn't a really funny joke. And he kind of tried to explain what you can't. It's hard to explain why you're leaving out the NBA Finals MVP and each a copper finals MVP and a guy who's been an all star. Like, it's real who plays the same position as Kawhi who's kind of a physically healthy Kawhi.

I mean, you know, there's a I think there's a five year difference between the two. And, you know, and I understand I can understand Jalen's opinion. I mean, he looks he goes, Okay, you guys are invited Kawhi Leonard, who's perpetually hurt. And you just give him a spot.

But I can't get a phone call. I can't get any consideration for being on this team. And, you know, he knows. I mean, I think he has respect for the guys. He's contemporaries in the league. But Jalen also feels like he's one of the best players in the league. And that's why a lot of these guys are here because they think they're the best.

They think they're top notch and Dalen's no different. So, you know, is that is there a political side to it? Does Grant Hill feel like there's going to be some issues? And it's not fair to Jason because it puts Jason in a real bad spot.

You know, what's he supposed to say? Well, you know, because he knows if he criticizes the choice of Derek White, then there's a problem with Derek White. And Derek White's a great guy. And Derek White doesn't deserve this. He deserves to be on the team.

But in my opinion, so does Jalen. And, you know, but if you know, it's a political thing. If you're not in a Team USA system, if you're not, you know, there's been guys who, you know, thought they should make it and didn't make the select team over the last several years. And we're chosen for that.

And, you know, it's just a it's kind of a system where you have to to be part of something for a while in court. And, you know, he played the world championships a few years ago in 2019. You know, didn't really have a great tournament. None of the Team USA did. They finished in seventh place. But if you really look at it, you know, it's probably it's probably part, you know, we like Derek White and it's part. Well, we just don't feel like Jalen Brown's a fit chemistry-wise. Well, Gary, knowing that they haven't it hasn't even been a month since they won the championship.

We already got a story, at least people trying to make a story. What's the biggest challenge for them repeating next year? Is it depth? Is it an injury to Porzingis?

Is it ego? What's the biggest issue or challenge for them to repeat? Well, obviously, the competition is much more daunting when you got Philadelphia picking up Paul George, picking up Eric Gordon, you know, healthy and beat his back. Maxie just signed his extension.

Kelly Oubre comes on back. So Philadelphia has made some some moves now they have kind of a big three in the Knicks pick up Mikel Bridges and they're wrapping up too. So they sign a nobody. So I just think the competition will be better.

But it's also different. Miami's kind of on the slide. Milwaukee is pretty much absolutely nothing. I think they signed Torian Prince and Delon Wright.

Those are two free agents. But that's not going to make anybody turn their heads. But I think for the Celtics personally, they've got to stay healthy and they got to have that fire. And we'll see like, you know, this is what makes, you know, good, great teams dynasties is that let's do this again.

Let's have that same organization. They know they're probably not going to be as healthy as they were last year. There's going to be some diversity comes out of nowhere and they're going to have to deal with it. And they pretty much brought the entire same team back. And we'll see other you know, they are some of the draft picks do or whether they can find some, you know, maybe a guy who can help off the bench, you know, maybe this summer. But at this point, this is the team they have. And they're going to have to really, really deal with being the hunted, not the hunter. Yeah, well, they've had their chances over the years.

They finally reached the top of the mountain. People are going to try to knock them off. Gary, thank you for the time. Where can people follow you on your work with the Globe?

Boston Globe com and follow me on Twitter x or whatever you call it at G Washburn Globe. Thank you so much and enjoy some time more Gary catch you down the line. Okay. All right. Thanks.

Appreciate it. Look around. What do you see cars? Lots of them. And guess what? They're probably on auto trader.

Whether you're into timeless classics or the latest trends. Did somebody say solar powered eco friendly vegan leather wrapped aroma therapy scented disco ball equipped self driving car. If you see it on the road, you can likely find it on auto trader big cars, small cars, blue cars, new cars and used cars, electric cars, and one day, maybe even flying cars with millions of options to choose from buying a car becomes a whole lot easier.

See it find it auto trader. It's been a three year wait, but the Olympics are back and the CBS Sports Podcast network has you covered with everything happening in Paris. It's a new era for the US women's national team and attacking third will tackle all the women's soccer action. First cut will keep close tabs on golf while beyond the arc will follow the US men's basketball team on a quest for another gold and we need to talk now will provide comprehensive coverage of women's athletes at the Olympic games. Follow and listen to all CBS Sports Podcasts for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.