Celtics Off-Season Dilemma (Hour 4)

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Additional terms apply. The front office show. And also you could check out the Celtics blog as well. Keith, Zach, help here. Appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. I loved your tweets yesterday pointing out how much of an incentive it is for Jalen Brown to stay in Boston. I know that's always known, but when you put the numbers five years, 290.3 million compared to four, a buck 84.5.

He goes somewhere else. I just don't see a way this offseason where Jalen Brown goes, Yeah, I'm going to pass on that money. I no longer want to be a part of the Boston Celtics.

I'm going to pass on that money. And if I don't like the way things are going a year or two in, I'll ask for a trade down. That's just kind of how the week works now. Do you think people are just too caught up in the moment? I think people forget how young Tatum and Brown are, and we've seen them in so many big games for so many years, and you think by now they would have a championship.

Is that why you think there's been a lot of that discussion in the last 2448 hours? I think it's there's a portion of getting caught up in the moment, but I think there's also this was year kind of six of this year. This group together for the most part of brown Tatum Marcus smart Al Horford, and then a couple of those other guys. Rob Williams has been there for a little while now too, and that's what I think has people saying, you know, we haven't broken through yet.

Right? We got to the finals once, but having gotten all the way there, and I think now what's happening is it turns into a conversation of are we ever going to do it right? That becomes the fans number one question, and then you start to look at.

I think people are. just educated enough to understand that the super tax is coming in the new CBA and that's gonna make it really really restrictive to build out a team and I think people are looking at that saying you know what this may not you know go exactly the way we want it to. Keith Smith here with us when you look at Jalen Brown in that game seven the turnovers are horrible he couldn't go to his left how does he find a way to overcome that in the foreseeable future because it's the same issue the last few years with him. Yeah you got to tighten up the handle right that's the only real way to get there tighten up the handle get a little bit better running pick and roll so you're a lot more confident with the ball in your hands and just kind of you'll make it work that way because that's got to be a skill that you have right now Jalen Brown is primarily a scorer who can do some playmaking but he's a guy when he gets the ball in his hands he's looking to score and that's not a bad thing right the league still needs guys who can score and he does it very well and pretty efficiently so I think what happens though is when you get into the playoffs especially in the game like that game seven where it's clear Jason Tatum was hurting he wasn't able to do his normal thing that allowed the heat to really load to the ball focus on Jalen Brown and he just wasn't up to the moment so that's gonna be something he's gonna have to kind of own go back into the lab this offseason and come back a better player next year. How much of this season is on Joe Mazzola from the coaching standpoint? I mean some of it right it's hard because you know there's a huge amount of criticism that's being laid on him and the Celtics and I get it it's a disappointing season because they lost to the 8 seed and we all thought they were a better team than they were a year ago and they were in the finals but to me there's got to be a little bit of perspective in there they were one of the final four teams play and they did get all the way back from a 3-0 deficit and I think you know for me part of that is alright coach how do you get them ready to play in the early games right if you hadn't you know kind of thrown away a couple of those early games you win the series and probably six and maybe even five and you're in the finals right now against the Nuggets and instead they threw away a couple of those early games and fell apart so that's gonna be something he's got to come back with I think you know people would love to see him come back with an offense that's not so three-point heavy because that's been a major challenge for them and something that just people haven't really fully bought into you know with this team and this personnel so those are things that they're gonna have to figure out and try to get better with the other thing to Keith Smith is if people are gonna say get rid of Joe Missoula who are you bringing in like Doc Rivers is not you know coming on back to Boston and at this point kind of the luster is worn off on Doc Rivers if you're gonna tell me Monte Williams like his team's the last two years failed in the big moments as well so I don't see the coach out there it's like okay I have to have right now to shove Joe Missoula out the door yeah that's I mean that's the fan stuff that you know times when it's fire the coach or trade the player and it's like okay for who like who who do you want to come back in and it's usually either some you know ridiculously you know the unrealistic name or that's just I don't know just not this guy and that you know to me is okay I get it right that's part of the fandom and you know or you know they fire back at guys like me with I don't know you tell me that's your job to do and I'm you know kind of I'm not the one you know campaigning for you know player to be traded or the guy to be fired so you know it's it's in a spot now where I think a lot of people would have liked Nick nurse to maybe get a look I think your self-expanded seen his team's give the Celtics trouble over the last five years and you know that but now he's off the board so the reality is had they lost in four and gotten swept and if it was an embarrassing game for like it was an embarrassing game three I think you might have seen more momentum to say all right this fell apart in the worst possible way we got to move on but the fact that Joe Missoula got them to fight back they did get it to a game seven they laid an egg in game seven but I think a lot of you know people in charge you know look at and say man it's a them got hurt 26 seconds into the game and you know the heat made everything and we couldn't buy one there I think they're gonna move into all right we send to this guy for a reason when we made him a full-time head coach mid season we're not moving on right now they're just not gonna pay somebody to not coach the team T Smith I like that you brought up Nick nurse what did you make of the Sixers higher because I kind of view it I like the higher but this team in terms of their roster construction fills a lot of work to do yeah and that's kind of where I'm at you know I think you know people went too crazy with the whole I don't know Nick nurse like small lineups where everybody can switch I mean he did when he didn't have a center but when he had a center and marked us all they won a championship they didn't play switch everything defense so I think you know that we're not gonna lock him in a one style and say that's how he plays and that's it I think for the most part it's no he's got some versatility to what he'll do and you know if I'm fairly certain he's a good enough coach to figure out how to use Joel Embiid's talents without saying no I go get me a six-foot nine guy who can play you know three different positions instead of the MVP of the league but with that said I mean he doesn't like guys who don't defend don't bring effort on that end I don't know that James Harden is a perfect fit for this roster so that's gonna be something that's gonna have to get figured out and yeah there there are a couple other players that they're gonna have to you know sort through it and figure out how to build the best roster for him to now you've kind of made that long-term commitment it's likely you know very likely a four-year deal that's generally how these deals go so for at least the next four years you're kind of saying all right we got to give him something he can win with if you had to guess right now does James Harden end up going back to Houston with the Rockets I think so and that's not any kind of reporting I'm giving you just reading the tea leaves and reading all the other reports whenever something pops up you know mid-season like this dinner right around Christmas around the holiday time when we started first hearing this buzz and it doesn't go away it only gets louder and louder and louder and nobody shuts it down with a hey this is not how this is gonna go that to me says there's at least something there and I think James Harden at this point I think he is the kind of guy who is you know what I want to be where I'm gonna be happy I was happiest in Houston I'm content to just stay there and that's where I would like to be I'm gonna ask you a question I know the answer to I know the answer is Tillman Fertitta so instead of just asking you why do the Rockets even want him back why does Tillman Fertitta they'll want him back that's the one that I can't wrap my head around still hey I think they're just impatient now I think they're looking at it as hey we we've had a couple really bad years and I want to win and I I don't want to be doing this rebuilding thing forever I mean they moved on from Steven Silas I'm not gonna say that was the worst decision in the world the team wasn't really making a lot of progress under him but they're really only two full years into this rebuild to that first year the intention wasn't to be a bad team they still had James Harden they still had some other guys and then when they traded him they leaned into it over the last two years but now you're sitting there with a roster that's full of really good fun interesting young talent that I think can grow and I think Imea Doka is gonna do a really good job with that team and getting them ready to play but I think the Rockets are you know up top are yeah you know that's all sounds well and good but I don't want to wait another two years before we're competing for playoff spots I want to compete now and I think the belief is you know get James Harden in get the right kind of guys around him because you'll probably trade a handful of those kids in other moves to create you know build out your roster around James Harden I think their feeling is let's go forward with that we'll be competitive for playoff spots long term and you're probably gonna get two three pretty good years out of that then I don't know where it goes from there so it's not a move I would make but my guess is that's why we're sitting where we're sitting we talked about Keith Smith the speculation in regards to James Harden there's also been a ton of speculation that Bob Myers is gonna step away we found that out to be true yesterday had you reacted and why do you think the the truth is that Bob Myers is leaving the Warriors thank the truth is he just wants a break I'm gonna take him out his word on that there's a lot of reporting around that in the days leading up to it Mark Stein I think he's been on this for a little while of Myers is just kind of worn out I think you know one of the things that people forget is you know when your team most of the years that he's been there has been other than a couple years when they kind of took their gap years if you will that they were competing late into the season so you're dealing with that you're also dealing with all right this is not the easiest roster to build out wait you're starting from a great point but you got to get depth so there you got it you're really kind of working through that process with those guys not a lot of trades to be made those kind of things so you're kind of stuck in a spot where it are you know it's a hard place to you know go now you started from a great core with curry and Thompson and green and Wiggins in that group but my guess is he's just worn down from the challenges of this job and doing it for you know nearly a decade and I'm guessing he's you know I'm gonna take some time off and then we'll see in a year or so you know what kind of materializes from there when you get ready for the first game next season I'll get to the finals in just a second Keith Smith but when you get ready for the first game next season do you think Dame is still with the Portland Trail Blazers yeah I think so I think they're gonna give it at least one more run let's try to rebuild around him I would not be surprised if they either don't make the pick at three or if they're making that pick for somebody else I think there's a chance they're gonna try to cash in on that and get a player in there that they really feel can fit around Damian Lillard and really try to lift them up I think some teams in the Western Conference are looking at saying hey the Lakers made a run with a good but flawed roster to the Western Conference Finals I think they're even looking at the Nuggets and saying hey this now you seem as good and really good but they're not you know the Warriors that they're not you know feel inevitable at the start of each year that we're all playing for second so why not us and I think you know if you're Portland you're thinking oh we got Damian Lillard we've got some other nice players let's really try to cash in get at least one maybe two more guys fill out our depth a little bit that could be us next year making that deep playoff run and I think they're gonna give up one more shot around game I respect Dame's loyalty because that organization has been a dumpster fire but if I was him Keith Smith I'd be trying everything in my power to wind up with Miami next year yeah I don't know how the heat would even remotely begin to make that happen they don't have the asset to pull that off you know that's the that's I think the challenge right I've seen people throw that out there and that speculation I mean you hear the same thing with you know the Lakers got to go get them you know why don't they they make it happen well we all forget Portland's on the other side they're not just gonna be like well hey anybody take Damian Lillard off our hands and we'll take your you know you know put back a bunch of pieces superstar trades don't return the value that people tend to think they're going to it's pretty rare that you get back the monster package it does happen occasionally Danny Ainge has done quite well with it several times both with the Celtics and the Jazz now but for the most part you get a little bit of a disappointing package but you look at teams like Miami the Lakers and teams that would really maybe be going in on Damian Lillard you start to find it kind of hard to find all right what are they sending back that would be enough for the Blazers to feel really good about making that trade and it's just not there you've covered the NBA for a long time what do you think the biggest storyline is entering these NBA Finals that start tomorrow night I think it's gonna be the Miami Heat's defense against the Nuggets offense and especially how do they handle Nikolai Jokic BAM Adebayo is a wonderful player but he struggled with Jokic over the years fairly small sample size they only play a couple times a season but we're gonna get a real good sense of you know where is BAM at you know one-on-one and they don't have a whole lot to throw at Jokic otherwise I think so if I had any one coach that I needed to say hey we'd have a whole bunch of different stuff plan it would be Eric Spulcher and if I had any one group of players that I think could morph from defense to defense to defense it would be this Miami Heat team they're really good at just switching in and I think Spulcher is gonna have you know plan A B C D E and F ready to go and it's gonna be all right you know we're gonna do this for a little while because the one thing you can't do with Jokic you can't just show them the same look over and over and over again because he's gonna figure it out and then he's gonna just pick you apart and that's that's gonna be the interesting chess match there of you know how do they defend that team can they get it slowed down enough where these games can be kind of rock fights because unless the Heat really believe all of a sudden they're the greatest shooting team in the history of the NBA that they need to get these games played a little slower and a little lower score you have a real chance here. I've been back and forth Denver in five or Denver in six the only reason why I haven't been adamant on Denver in five is I feel like that's a little disrespectful to Miami just with the things that you pointed out which Eric Spulcher could do what's the official prediction for Keith Smith on the finals yeah I'm going Denver in seven there's a couple reasons for that one is these are the chances the last seven meaningful NBA games for a few months right so I get a little melancholy it's this time of year because it's been all the good stuff going away for a little bit with the NBA so so I want as many as I can get but also you know I looked at Miami was supposed to lose in four or five to the Bucks they won they're supposed to lose in six or seven of the Knicks they won they're supposed to lose in four or five to the Celtics and they won I don't think they're gonna win again but I think they really are gonna make Denver work for it at the end I think the Nuggets will pull it out but you know I'm going I'm going nuggets in seven by the way just two more things before we let you run we're on a bunch of stations right now in the state of Wisconsin what did you make of the Adrian Griffin hire for the Bucks if it makes you honest happy then it makes me happy if I'm a Bucks fan you know he seemed to be engaged in that process and that's that's huge right in and I think Adrian Griffin is one of those guys who he's been waiting for this spot for a while he's been you know kind of you know on that path of you know so we see this with assistance they interview for years and years and years and I finally get their shot and some of them do quite well so I think there's a good pick up and who do you think ends up getting the Suns job yeah it was a little tougher I think it's probably gonna be Kevin Young who's one of their assistants seems like he has a lot of momentum there but you know the fact that Frank Vogel is a guy who has built really good teams when he has a defensive big to build around I think they're looking at saying hey maybe he can get you know the most out of DeAndre Aiden by making him a defender rebounder we've got the offense to figure it out and go I think he's in the mix and then Doc Rivers just you know he's the kind of guys those are the kind of teams that he generally tends to do pretty well with and I'm a veteran team that's ready to win and he can do pretty good the question I wonder is you know it's Chris Paul ready to do that again you know another run with with Doc but they hasn't had you know a good amount of success together with the Clippers so I you know we'll see but I think it's gonna probably be Kevin Young. My biggest concern about Doc Rivers is you look at the last two jobs there was a lot of things said you know reportedly with Kawhi and then also Paul George about trying to keep them accountable while he was there and you heard similar things with James Harden I wonder when you have a star like Durant if Durant and Doc Rivers could get on the same page yeah we'd find out real quick I think you know I think they'd probably be a pretty good mutual respect there to start off with but Doc's a little old school where it is you know hey you're gonna listen and I think sometimes the players now are it's the Players League like the days of the coach being the most important person in the organization those are pretty pretty far gone now you know and I think there's a good chance that they would butt heads. Make sure you check out the front office show also Celtics blog as well he's Keith Smith Keith really appreciate the insight. I appreciate it thank you for having me. There you go Keith Smith joining us on the Zach Gilb show on CBS Sports Radio we will take a timeout react to a lot of things that were just said right there when we come on back in five minutes. Haven't heard this song in a while Paper Planes this is actually I used to hear this song every day freshman year of high school when I was on the football team and we'd have two days they would play this song right when you walked in the locker room this was the big song when I was in high school freshman in high school and then when you come back for the second practice right away and it must this song must have been on loop because I feel like the only thing I remember from two days outside of me drinking a ton of Gatorade puking and running an absurd amount for an offensive lineman was this song Paper Planes. I I mean the way I think of this song is completely different from yours. What were you a party animal? No no it's one of my it's it's like one of my favorite movies ever Slumdog Millionaire yeah it wasn't that so yeah there's Alex he was like sitting there oh Zach's gonna talk about this song Slumdog Millionaire we're gonna have we're gonna have a connection here share some moment oh no I just remember getting destroyed absolutely destroyed in two a days and this would be the soundtrack for the summer where it'd be in the morning you would hear this song and then chaos would ensue on the football field and then you come back after getting your ass kick you play that song and then more chaos would ensue on a football field I'm telling you I think high school football practice is two a days I don't even know if they're still allowed to do those anymore but high school two a days is tougher than any NFL training camp or OTA right now I've been to OTA's in the NFL they're the most monotonous things ever you're just standing around stretching you don't even have pads on it's shorts and a t-shirt you do like you know a few plays things like that like obviously it takes a lot more skill what those guys are doing then what we were doing but high school two a days oh my goodness gracious they would run into we had a coach I'll never forget this this SOB I won't say his name on the radio even when we would win the next practice so the games usually be on a Friday or Saturday in high school that Monday practice you could win every point you would allow a hundred and ten yard sprint like you win a game 35 34 they would line you up to do 34 110 yard sprints for for every point not every score every point and yeah they would take a few off here and there cuz I'd be dead if I do 34 110 yard sprints and sometimes they make you do other things as well which would be 110 yards across the football field whether it's wheel barrel or crab walk things like that but just so stupid I understand a little discipline I understand teaching things here and there but that is just flat out absurd I would have a lawsuit these days yeah too much just too much and maybe honestly hate football and maybe in terms of playing the game the the high school football culture or sometimes it's just ridiculous a little bit too much 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27 Todd and Tampa has been waiting for a while let's go to Todd Todd what's happening yeah let's get down the business I want to go around the horn and have you comment I'll close but I want to say this before we were talking Tyler Boyd we're talking NFL when I jump to the NBA level but but Tyler Boyd Tyler Boyd's a bad boy for them don't forget about Von Miller for the Buffalo Bills I want to know if Aaron Rogers going to the Jets can make some noise and get in the playoffs and do anything I don't think so but I'm pulling for him okay of course I'm Buccaneers down here in Tampa Bay and I'm well your season's over before it even started Todd right right everyone I'm trying I'm praying we're throwing a hundred billion dollars to Tom Brady and saying come on back I'm not smoking something now exactly but uh so anyway we'll go from there I want to say this about Jimmy Butler I'm pulling for Miami but and Yoko bitch you may have won the MVP twice but if you don't close this deal you ain't can't BP okay whoever closes this and wins this title cousin America Yanis okay this is for you it matters if you win a championship okay not not if you come in second not if you had a good season okay well Todd you've had a lot of American players as well that didn't own failures so I don't really love that comment to be fair Yanis is a heck of a player but don't get me wrong he had a bad moment he should have never said after the game that this season wasn't a failure some people in America as Todd would say love the answer personally I did not I think it take ownership of that moment I'm not saying we expect you to win a championship each and every year but when you lose in the first round yeah that's not a good look especially when you are the number one overall seed let's go to Steve in Lincoln Nebraska where I actually may be going this year for a Cornhuskers football game he's next up on CBS Sports Radio Steve what do you got hey entertaining show hey as far as NBA I am I subscribe to ABC anybody but Celix I'm a Nick fan for 40 years so you're happy you were enjoying that because they were down 3-0 they get it to 3-3 and then everyone in America including yours truly is thinking alrighty game seven is going to go to Boston and then to lose is one thing but to not even show up is a completely different thing you know hey I got I'm gonna zig zag here a little bit I just want to bitch a couple of about a couple of things that sportscasters do that bug me the one is the way they mispronounce versus when you're talking about you know Celsius versus heat or whatever it's Celsius verse heat and it's like they invent a word there there's no singular for versus I realize it's just shortening words like velo and like vacay and I'm guessing but you know no biggie but the other thing does bother me how can you score a basketball alright Steve Dexter do you want to handle that one do you want me to handle that one because I think we had the same thought here nope it was interesting though and I do not mean that in a good way no that's I don't get what some people call up to complain about do you feel like he was trolling you there is that what we would call that no I I don't think so I think he was actually thinking that he was in in the right there the scoring the scoring the basket doesn't even make sense to me it does not that scares me but it is versus it is versus he's not he's not wrong about that now don't get me wrong for a while I used to say verse that used to be me oh was he calling you out I don't I don't think so because that was like years ago now I say versus right so I don't even get the the point of that phone call lose the number let's go to Zach and Charlotte Zach go ahead hey Zach so I think Nick nurse is just gonna be fantastic in Philadelphia because just waiting with the Raptors and you know I think James Harden's gonna leave so and you saw how good he was even though he didn't have Kawhi for that one season there to season so yeah I think he's a great fit he coached the Raptors to a championship and I just think would be a great fit in Philly the only question is will they get over the hump they just keep losing in the playoff well Zach's been calling this show for a while and I always do appreciate Zach I think Zach's like 15 years old and he's actually one of my favorite calls much better than that other guy from Lincoln Nebraska or even Todd from Tampa as well so out of the three calls that we just took there Zach is at the top of the list here's my thing with Nick nurse Nick nurse is a really good coach we could all admit that no crap but you can like the higher of Nick nurse in Philadelphia and you could feel good about the higher and also acknowledge the Sixers didn't get any better on the court like Nick nurse is a better coach in the year of 2023 then Doc Rivers but I don't think it matters who the coach is if your goals to win the championship if James Harden's your closer and if James Harden isn't back in Philadelphia who are you bringing in to replace him you know Fred van Vliet's already being talked about as potentially going on in there to Philadelphia cuz Nick nurse is there but is van Vliet a closer and a championship team no I know he was phenomenal when Kawhi won that championship but Embiid needs a closer like you look at the construction of the Nuggets compared to the Sixers the first piece is similar Joelle Embiid and Nicole Jokic now Joker is better but in order to win a championship both of them needed a closer Jamal Murray is that closer Jamal Murray is everything the Sixers wish that they had because if they had Jamal Murray they would have a guy that you could consistently one healthy rely on to hit that big shot so Phillies in a tough spot and I think down more is one of the more overrated executives there is I was so out on that guy the moment he was celebrating losing to the Golden State Warriors cuz my losing was better than your losing to the rest of the league which had him back we were five and eight but everyone else is like five and 34 I hate that tweet from Daryl Maury and I don't get why Maury who saw Harden in Houston who did really good things thought that he was gonna be the closer because James Harden doesn't close big games I get it game one is phenomenal game four he was awesome but after that the dude completely checked out and I'm not letting him beat off the hook I think it's the first time Embiid is properly getting some criticism in his career but bringing in Nick Nurse yes they got better from a coaching standpoint but the roster is still the biggest problem in Philadelphia where I don't think it really matters who the coach is if you're gonna bring back James Harden they're gonna be out in the second round again if you're gonna go somewhere else who's the guy out there everyone tell me dame who you giving up to go get them you give up maxi right now this may not make sense what I'm about to say but I'm gonna say it anyway the Sixers need Tyrese maxi this summer in my opinion you know I think is is really good they need him to be 25 the problem is he's 22 and when you're 22 not ever come in a league and just be a dominant stud from start to finish and you've seen that there's times Tyrese maxi goes puts 30 points on the board and he looks like an absolute stud stud but then there's other games it's like ah you don't really see that that to me is what I just think with more seasoning Tyrese maxi will be really damn good the problem is when that happens where's Embiid's prime gonna be I don't know about you Dexter I think Embiid has a championship window of two to three more seasons in Philadelphia in Philadelphia I don't think I don't think you're wrong on that unless unless that gets extended to where he's paired with the right younger star yeah but you you make a good point you need somebody it's probably about 24 25 probably just about to hit their prime like someone like a Shea Gil just Alexander yeah if you had him with Embiid right now you feel like you're cooking yeah Jimmy Butler what well funny you mentioned that yeah had Jimmy Butler and I think a lot of it now is revisionist history because at the time that organization did everything for Ben Simmons I don't think everyone realized how great Jimmy Butler was then I because he wasn't allowed to be an alpha anywhere in Miami embraced him being an alpha but it's very easy to say and very correct to say now Jimmy Butler would be the perfect complimentary piece for Joel Embiid yeah and that's what I wonder when does Embiid start to say alright I'm I'm done with this well I remember you telling me this in the beginning of the playoffs we were talking about this and you were saying that look some of the what you just mentioned some of the heats gonna start to come in Embiid if he didn't deliver in the playoffs and then you saw how he didn't deliver in the big games when accounted against the Celtics game six and seven and that time is now but you also bring up another good point which is when is he gonna maybe start thinking about I want to leave Philly but he's been loyal to Philly he loves Philly I think a year from now is when that potentially happens I think he'll be on board Nick nurse one more year you know one more year it comes on in and I think a year from now if things don't drastically change then that's when the public narrative will start to start to go to Embiid because for years deservedly so was on Ben Simmons and then it was on all the crappy GM's that they brought in Brian Colangelo with his wife creating all those burner accounts that he may have created who knows then you kind of looked okay last year it was like on James Harden right and and James Harden just got there you're running out of places to run and point the the finger at somebody else and you look at Embiid as much as I don't believe in James Harden at least he gave you games one and four I know he's guys playing on one leg Embiid but he did nothing in that fourth quarter in game six and then no showed in game seven and I'll do this correctly mm-hmm versus the Boston Celtics he knows well well played you did not uh you did not disappoint the last previous caller to callers he didn't make any baskets as well one more before the break let's go to Dale in Alabama Dale what's happening doing great Dale what do you got yeah so the Sixers that's been talked about for a while the question is just how do you go get him you'd have to give up Tyrese Maxey I don't know if Dallamore would be willing to do that and also until Dame gets on out of there we've been talking about Dame leaving there for four years so how much of this is actually on Dame having the guts to say I'm done with Portland I lied one more Troy and Buffalo Troy go ahead oh yeah you're talking about high school and doing gassers for losing in points yes call when I got detention one time I did do what suicide my number times three just forgetting a detention one so I can relate to your getting beat by a couple points than having to do a bunch of running so just brought me back to like the old high school days for sports yeah every coach thinks that they're the Herb Brooks of high school sports that's what I realized when I played high school I'm sure there's a lot of good coaches too but that my high school football coach was like Herb Brooks with that whistle again again again again again again again except no one was like Micah Rizzioni that screamed out who do you play for the United States of America and a Rizzioni once said that that was Hollywood up big time which ruined one of my favorite movie scenes of all time we really needed the the trainer to say Herb this is not safe this is not good anymore alrighty well come on back I think Shep is gonna join us in studio I got to get some wacky basketball takes out of him alright that was the quickest closing bell ever cuz we're actually gonna scrap it today cuz Shep is roaming around the studios get ready for the JR sport brief extravaganza which of course he does produce coming your way on many the same CBS Sports Radio affiliate Sirius XM channel 158 and that free Odyssey app in about 10 minutes or so and Shep is also now becoming a big deal at Sirius XM NBA radio so I wanted to ask Shep two questions in the NBA world and we're gonna see how many times you have to cut Shep off cuz sometimes you will just give an NBA question to Shep and then like after two minutes of the most comprehensive analysis you'll ever get he'll go this is why LeBron James can't be the greatest player of all time and then I will just want to slam my head into the microphone because everyone will be calling me up at eight five five two one two four CBS to give me their opinion on why LeBron's the goat or Michael Jordan is the goat and that's a conversation that personally I don't care for so if we get to that point Shep where you start going into LeBron and Michael and all that I think I'm gonna throw something at you that's a fair that's a fair point I mean people have thrown things at people all the time here this won't be a Scottie Pippen Michael Jordan kind of adversary relationship and we all know why Scottie Pippen who has been very annoyed at Michael for many years but when your ex-wife is dating the guy that you are most well known with is a son and 16 years her junior by the way that that's not something we see all that often in the in the popular hemisphere of that is the NBA royalty because Marcus Jordan by default I know you didn't ask this but by default he's royalty you're Michael Jordan's kid and you're dating someone that I mean pure I mean there's there's some hidden agendas if you ask well nothing surprised me anymore when we find out that Al Pacino who's 82 his girlfriend is getting ready to pop out a kid and Robert De Niro I just had a kid going back in May and he's like 79 so nothing really surprises me 79 I guess is the new 40 and 83 is the new 50 apparently yeah by the way since we're bringing that up that's just not that's just not fair to the kid well I was saying earlier if you're so Pacino's 82 if he lives for another 10 years like how much is that kid gonna really be able to remember his dad well he's all I mean this has nothing to be a finals but listen Al Pacino has already exceeded the average male American population in terms of life expect yeah like I mean I hope he lives 200 at this sake I mean like he better kid gets like what by the 18 years of dad right by that point the kids gonna be at a senior year graduation of high school alrighty let me ask you this who wins the NBA finals that's the first NBA question that I want to get it's gonna be the Denver Nuggets because you were taught many games it's gonna be Denver so remember they don't do the two three two like they used to yeah it's been a few years right obviously so because of that it is going to be the Nuggets and five see I'm stuck between Denver and five or Denver and six right and the only reason I'm thinking Denver and six is just because of how much respect I have for the Miami Heat and how they battle but question for you I look at the entirety of the Denver Nuggets team Jokic is the best player in this series and Jamal Murray is just a lethal closer will there ever be a fourth quarter and we saw this from Tatum in the first two games now first three games but I won't hold the game three against him because he wasn't in the fourth quarter but are you ever gonna see a scenario in the NBA Finals play out where Jamal Murray goes scoreless in a fourth quarter cuz I remember Jamal Murray not going for 23 points in the fourth quarter in this playoffs no right absolutely not it's never gonna happen and go that's obviously far in a way their second best player Nikolai Jokic there is no answer for him there's a most consistent player I mean Anthony Davis is the best two-way player we have in the NBA arguably he had no answer for Nikolai Jokic yeah when he plays Anthony Davis when he's at his apex yeah he could still not stay in front of you because Jokic shoots the three like a card and when you take that oh yeah when you take that away from him Jokic has shown the ability to put the ball on the floor now granted it's not as fast and athletic it doesn't matter no one could stop me you can't stay in front of him now you double him there's nobody in history the sport that's ever found a yo-yo better than him Jokic is a cheat code like he's a video game player that sometimes he can move very slow yeah but he has all these buttons around him where there's no way to stop him he's absurd so I'm stuck between five or six I want to go five but part of me because they respect that for Miami goes six here's the other question I have for you yes Jaylen Brown mm-hmm is he on the Celtics next year yes because so you've come around on that well the reality is you have to look at the Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown situation first of all the hand has been bothering Jaylen Brown all his playoff run yeah we don't we and even when the hand was good he left but we can't that's fair and God knows eight turnovers will certainly take that but what we can't gloss over was when he was healthy he showed up against the goal and state warriors it was Jason Tatum that disappeared I think a lot of people forget that now Jason Tatum doesn't go down with that ankle injury obviously he tried to gut his way and play his way through Brown needs elevated that's body did it that's fine did Jimmy Butler elevate in game five or game six stars have off nights yeah Jaylen Brown is an all-nba second team player that is still in his mid-20s but there's talks that he wants to be the number one and that was his moment to show that he could be the number one you know I'm not saying in Boston cuz Tatum's the number one in Boston but that was his moment there and he failed go the question should be what do the Celtics do to maximize Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown instead of and I'm not saying it's a bit I'm not so I'll give you the answer they're gonna give Jaylen Brown a fat paycheck five years two hundred ninety point three million compared to four and a buck eighty four point five the other team could give him there's your answer by Jaylen Brown's gonna be back listen I know you have your 40 seconds fair enough I know you have your opinions about Doc Rivers we know he got the boot we know Monty Williams got the boot Mike Putin holds her obviously Nick nurse those are four high-quality coaches I understand it's his first year you just got to cut loose with a 34 year old he has no business being head coach right now who are you then bringing in I'm telling you something right now you're bringing the guy that used to coach them 12 years ago I know you may not like that no 12 years ago okay I'd be good seven years ago I'd be good he's great with superstars and thank you for having me I don't think he's great with superstars Kawhi Paul George and James Harden would say a whole lot of other things I wish we had more time with chef but I wanted to kind of go quickly with chef because then the next thing you know he'd be talking LeBron and Mike we'll talk to you tomorrow everybody we out bye-bye peace