I'd bet against those things happening, but I would probably bet on Evan Mobley being an all NBA player again at some point in the next couple of years.

So, I was going to ask you, how good do you think he can be? When he hits his prime...

Okay.

there's a couple of things that are happening here because I, I am also, we're previewing this upcoming season and I don't want to go too off the rails, but I'm also, I am also fascinated by the Evan Mobley thing, maybe because he was, you know, seen as a transformative type of player and he's not a transformative type of player.

He has all of the tools to be one of those guys.

He's, almost seven feet tall.

He's supposed to be able to shoot.

But it's worth it right now.

Where are you at now, two months later, fully digesting this trade, but yet before we actually see products on the basketball

court? Yeah, I mean, I think everybody had, like, an emotional initial reaction.

And I think that emotional reaction was like, oh, well, this makes the Celtics worse.

And, like, look...

Taking Jalen Brown out and putting Paul George in makes the Celtics worse.

However, they are not going to be a worse team because they have Mitchell Robinson, because they have Baylor Shireman and Ugo Gonzalez and Jordan Wall.

They have guys that have progressed and they have all these guys that are, I think, going to play fairly well and will make this team at least as good as they were last year.

So what's one of the biggest storylines that you're looking for this upcoming

What's the vibe around Tatum? His health? coming into this season do the Celtics think they're just going to get like full Jason Tatum all season long like all systems go or is there still some uncertainty there and I guess like what do you think it looks like now with Tatum as the dude that this whole thing is built around

I don't think there's any feeling that he's going to be less than what he normally was.

He he's proven it.

He came back, he came back, he looked physically good.

The absence in that game seven was because of swelling in the knee and the opposite leg makes sense that when you're trying to carry that burden, the timing was horrible, but yeah, um having the the other leg overcompensate and have an issue is not unheard of and so no concern there excuse me on my part i think the team expect jason to come back and be jason it's another reason why you you say okay we're we are going to trade jalen because we we know what we got in this guy he's a year younger and we feel good about what he's going to do when he comes back i think Tatum is a very willing passer, I think.

That experience of going through the Achilles rehab kind of changed a little bit.

Fundamentally, something like that does change you as a person.

How would you handicap a healthy Raptors with Kawhi tilting off against the Celtics in a playoff series? How would you assess that matchup?

But having a full off season, what, what do you expect out of Jayson Tatum this year?

I expect him to be, uh, [sighs] you know, I, I ca- I don't wanna say completely healthy and his usual self because we still aren't 100% sure.

But, uh, I think he'll be pretty close.

He, he has a chance to be a, just a normal Jayson Tatum.

Uh, I think coming back last season, they probably pushed him a little too hard, uh, and that's why he ended up getting that knee thing that held him out of game seven of that Sixers series.

Uh, but what I saw on that return was very encouraging and it was very important for him to get a lot of that rust and that confidence back.

Like, he, he kind of proved some things in that return that, okay, he's physically, he's, he can handle it.

All right, last one, and you can kind of take this one anywhere you wanna go with it, but how would you define success for the 2026-2027 Boston Celtics?

There is

... because Mitchell Robinson puts a lot of, it's vertical pressure, right? It's, it's that vertical spacing.

It's getting, you're running pick and rolls and catching those lobs.

Queta does a lot of the same stuff.

You're gonna get that collapsing the defense, and those guys, Queta has done a good job short roll, kicking it out to the corners.

Robinson's gonna do the same thing.

They, they played well when you had a, somebody in a dunker spot and four shooters, and that, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Jayson Tatum, Paul George are gonna be your four shooters with Mitchell Robinson being, you know, occupying, help defense down at the, you know, in, in the paint, and that's gonna open things up for a kick, swing, swing, three point shot.

No chance.

His development and where does it go with Dylan?

I don't think you select him unless he's willing to take a two-way.

And I think that's just kind of been the MO for the Celtics.

So I think it's Amari, it's Dylan, and then a fight for the third one, probably between Tanji and Yuzan.

So unless there's a surprise somewhere.

But I think you start Dylan Mitchell on the two-way because he's...

Look, it's $500,000.

He

Yeah

... that's there.

What else can you build around it? And that's where Craig Lucianoit and, and the development team, that's where their job comes in, right? They're the chefs.

We're talking about the ingredients, those are the chefs, man.

You got a bunch of sous chefs and Craig is the chef.

Yes, chef.

Okay, you need to fix that jumper.

Mm.

After that press conference, and now that you've had time to think about it, what did you make of all of that? So,

I think...

I feel like the CBA, I hate framing everything with the CBA, but I really think this is at the heart of everything.

We have a couple of forces at play here.

I think the league... was expecting the, the salary cap to go up by 10% a year, every year for like five, six years.

I think the Celtics thought they would have more space that the combined Jalen and Jason salaries wouldn't combine for 70% of the cap that would be in the high fifties or maybe 60.

Brad talked about it.

Did the usage get out of control, and did that rub, do you think, Tatum and the organization the wrong way, especially in the playoffs?

John, what should the Celtics know about Chris Sinak?

Uh, I think at this point, uh, it's that he's a little bit more of a project, but, uh, the, the big thing is that he is very coachable.

He can project out to be a, uh, stretch power forward for the Celtics, even though he was more of a rim finisher at Houston.

But I, I'm really struck by how much people, uh, emphasize how he likes to be coached hard, and being coached by Joe Mazzulla, that, that's a very important thing to have.

And, uh, if he's going to accept that kind of coaching, then the Celtics will gladly push him hard to develop into the type of big that they need.

I don't think it's immediate help for the Celtics, but I do think he can eventually step in.

Uh, with, with the Celtics, the way they develop bigs, they have a very good track record developing bigs here, uh, that he can eventually develop that, that jump shot, eventually develop some of the defensive, uh, elements that he needs to, a little bit more shot blocking.

At the risk of making too much out of a late first-round pick, understanding that boards break a certain way, is there anything that we can read into the Celtics' direction with this? Obviously, there's a ton of questions arou- around Boston right now with Jaylen Brown's future, but in general, their direction, is there anything we can read from this pick?

So how's the narrative changed all that much or has it not and people are just not doing the math and understanding that this wouldn't really work?

Well, the math part of it is what the Celtics did at the trade deadline last year to get themselves under the tax.

It does allow, in certain circumstances, it's not about having the two max contracts necessarily.

If you can get good enough players who make... you know, to kind of make up for that difference, right? So what OKC is up against is all of their top players, all of their role players are making a ton of money.

What the Celtics have been able to do is you've got Jalen and Jason, you've got Derek, which kind of like is, you know, right on the edge of the most you can make.

But mixed into all of what I've been talking about this offseason is you probably have to move Sam Houser because he makes... almost $11 million, and moving him for nothing, a draft pick or something, allows them to go out and add a couple of other pieces.

You need, I think, a lot of contributors like Namesh Keita, Baylor Shireman, Jordan Walsh, all those guys on minimum contracts.

Would you be very surprised if the Celtics or Brad Stevens just decided to run it back while picking around the edges and getting a different center other than Nemeas Keita?

Yep

... get multiple people on, and all these.

Whatever you can, because we, we were going with three for a while.

And yeah, uh, the, the audio, the audio kind of glitches and lost episodes.

We, I don't know how many episodes we lost because of technical issues.

Um, the frustration of the internet or something not recording.

Oh, my God, like, back then it really was kind of like MacGyvering things.

John just like-

And then we just went, I mean, like zero to 60 all of a

sudden.

So this is what concerns me with this stuff.

That's not how trade talks work.

You know what I mean? Like you don't sit there and be like, ah, they're out, they're out.

Like with all due respect to people who have legitimate conversations and hear legitimate things.

I don't understand the concept of playing possum in trade talks.

Look, they have a

I think.

No, I, I think, I think it's both of those things.

Both of those things can concurrently be true.

They, they stunk.

They absolutely...

You're not...

I'm not gonna dispute anything that you said.

Yeah.

How about that starting lineup? Let's start there.

So the starting lineup was a reach.

Good luck.

No doubt.

It was a reach.

I understand, I think, the concept of putting a ton of shooting on the floor and speed and effort.

And, like, those were – I mean, it might have been a little bit of a message being sent, too.

Do you think moving forward he will change it at all?

Or the teams left that could be in the play-in that is someone you wouldn't want to face?

I think Miami is a team that I feel comfortable playing.

Philly is a team I feel comfortable playing.

Toronto, those three teams are the three I'd be most comfortable playing.

I know Orlando, obviously Charlotte, everybody will say Charlotte.

And they're really good.

I think the Celtics would beat them.

Is that a big deal? Is this a specific thing for Mizzou to have him play in this game of the back-to-back to get it out of the way?

I'm expecting more, and I think Celtics fans are probably feeling the same way.

Yeah, no, listen, it's a very valid place to be.

You're here, you're the second seed.

Why not go for it? Of course they're going to go for it.

The reason why I say it is that this team wasn't built to make the deep playoff run.

And by that I mean... you're going to still be relying a lot on, you know, Baylor Shireman and some Ugo Gonzalez and Namesh Keita and guys who have overperformed this season and have been great.

And I don't want to take anything away from them, but unproven playoff talents, right? So that's my one concern.

yeah

when Tatum comes back, what are your expectations for this team come playoff time?

My expectation is that Tatum is a more limited version of himself.

We're not going to see the 40 minutes.

We shouldn't see 40 minutes a game from Tatum putting that kind of stress on his body because he will not have that big ramp up that other guys have.

I would think that even if he starts, it'd be more limited minutes.

And there is a possibility that he just comes off the bench throughout the rest of the season.

And they just make it a consistent lineup that way where he can get his minutes.

you think the offense will look like in the final minute of a playoff game, given how good Jalen Brown has been this season? Is Jalen Brown the guy with the ball in his hands instead of a 70% Jason Tatum in a key situation like that? You know, that's a fair question.