2021-22 NBA Thread: Bill Simmons furiously recording 2.5 hour long pod about how Boston is still better than Golden State (3 Viewers)

[wikkidpissah]

i have it being a really short window, but i'm gonna enjoy this while i can. the stories of the playoffs so far are the teams listening to their coaches & playing together & playing defense. the festering stars twinkle like three remaining teeth in the heads of old Supermax ways. good riddance - i have at least a little of my game back

 

[Anarchy99]

Not that it matters any, but I find it interesting that both the national media and Boston media so far have focused way more on the Nets inadequacies and what went wrong with not a lot of talk about the Celtics. The narrative has zeroed in on the hot mess that is Brooklyn, and not a lot of discussion about the Celtics beating them. Most discussion and analysis nationally centered on the Nets losing. So far, mostly a couple footnotes about Boston.

Surprised that a lot of Boston sports talk has centered on KD, Kyrie, Simmons, and Nash. I get it, the Nets press conferences are entertaining. Some banter about the C's defense and Tatum emerging. I find that odd, as I would have expected more of a focus about here's what the Celts did and review their highlights and interview the Boston players. But most of what I saw was all interviews of Brooklyn guys and then at the end a snippet of a Celtics player or two. I guess even the Boston media has taken the approach that the Nets losing was a bigger story than the Celtics winning.

 

[General Malaise]

So far on Twitter tonight I’ve seen Kyrie called World B. Flat and Allen Ivermectin  

lolz.....I sure hope Twitter is still funny after Muskrat buys them.

 

[wikkidpissah]

Not that it matters any, but I find it interesting that both the national media and Boston media so far have focused way more on the Nets inadequacies and what went wrong with not a lot of talk about the Celtics. The narrative has zeroed in on the hot mess that is Brooklyn, and not a lot of discussion about the Celtics beating them. Most discussion and analysis nationally centered on the Nets losing. So far, mostly a couple footnotes about Boston.

Surprised that a lot of Boston sports talk has centered on KD, Kyrie, Simmons, and Nash. I get it, the Nets press conferences are entertaining. Some banter about the C's defense and Tatum emerging. I find that odd, as I would have expected more of a focus about here's what the Celts did and review their highlights and interview the Boston players. But most of what I saw was all interviews of Brooklyn guys and then at the end a snippet of a Celtics player or two. I guess even the Boston media has taken the approach that the Nets losing was a bigger story than the Celtics winning.

just like every other aspect of today's media, the sports networks feature whatever stops the clicker & gets the clicks. the Lakers could go 0-82 next season and we'll still have to watch them at least twice a wk instead of good young teams on national games. Tatum is doing himself a disservice by joining a team concept and being forthcoming & humble in interviews - Greenie wont feature him in the 4 minutes he gives basketball each spring day before going back to gobbing Aaron Rodgers' knob. there's no "i told you so" for analysts who care more about brands than games to focus on in Finney-Smiths and Precious Achiwas doing everything they can to help their teams win. and that's down to the way we consume media - helping them outstoopit us.

 

[mr. furley]

I guess? That's a hot Rusillo take IIRC. 

plot twist,  i am Rya(e)n Russillo

 

[mr. furley]

Not that it matters any, but I find it interesting that both the national media and Boston media so far have focused way more on the Nets inadequacies and what went wrong with not a lot of talk about the Celtics. The narrative has zeroed in on the hot mess that is Brooklyn, and not a lot of discussion about the Celtics beating them. Most discussion and analysis nationally centered on the Nets losing. So far, mostly a couple footnotes about Boston.

easier to spin stories out of Brooklyn than Boston

you've got aging Durant (is he finished?? can he only win on a loaded team???)

Irving (vaccines, flat earth, bad teammate)

Nash (is he actually..... doing.... anything??)

Ben Simmons (look at how he dresses!! he quit! he's a baby!)

you can run those stories back on every show for months.

Boston has...... a turnaround after a slow start?

the amazing story of....... Robert Williams playoff return?

 

[Mister CIA]

https://twitter.com/the_ironsheik/status/1518433623246049287?s=20&t=qwCnZSMrNMiMZtGM5IkITg

 

[Desert_Power]

This is better than being in the lottery every year but its pretty depressing as a Nets fan that we couldnt even get one title out of this mess - so hate the players but give the fans a break - 30+ yrs of misery....so the same Nets run it back next year - in the words of the immortal Derrick Coleman - Whoop de Damn do!  

I assume the KD/Kyrie contracts are pretty set in stone?

I never fault a team for going for it when they have a chance, but someone (KD maybe?) should have realized that Irving, Harden, and now Simmons are all somewhat damaged goods before the Nets acquired them. I guess Kyrie is a bit of an exception since he still looks pretty good on court.  Trading for Harden was a huge mistake

Also feel like the Nets got some real raw luck with good supporting players like Dinwiddie (last year) and Harris (this year) getting hurt before the playoffs.

 

[mr. furley]

https://twitter.com/the_ironsheik/status/1518433623246049287?s=20&t=qwCnZSMrNMiMZtGM5IkITg

THEE Iron Sheik?

OUR IRON SHEIK??  

 

[Kiddnets]

I assume the KD/Kyrie contracts are pretty set in stone?

I never fault a team for going for it when they have a chance, but someone (KD maybe?) should have realized that Irving, Harden, and now Simmons are all somewhat damaged goods before the Nets acquired them. I guess Kyrie is a bit of an exception since he still looks pretty good on court.  Trading for Harden was a huge mistake

Also feel like the Nets got some real raw luck with good supporting players like Dinwiddie (last year) and Harris (this year) getting hurt before the playoffs.

KD is locked in for another 3 yrs and Kyrie is eligible for a 5 yr extension - even with all the talk right now they are not going anywhere.  the offseason mission has to be to resign Brown, get Simmons to be able to play or off the team/cap, extend Curry, get Joe Harris healthy and add another piece or two - then pray that Kyrie/KD play an entire season to get a higher seed and they get hot.  Its pretty close to deja vu with no way out.  

 

[wikkidpissah]

I assume the KD/Kyrie contracts are pretty set in stone?

I never fault a team for going for it when they have a chance, but someone (KD maybe?) should have realized that Irving, Harden, and now Simmons are all somewhat damaged goods before the Nets acquired them. I guess Kyrie is a bit of an exception since he still looks pretty good on court.  Trading for Harden was a huge mistake

Also feel like the Nets got some real raw luck with good supporting players like Dinwiddie (last year) and Harris (this year) getting hurt before the playoffs.

i hear Kancerie has an opt-out this offseason. KD will likely determine what the Nets do about that

never mind the picks - having Jarrett Allen protecting the rim and LeVert first off the bench woulda made the series just ended look a LOT differnt

 

[gruecd]

LeVine out for game 5 (COVID) and Caruso questionable (concussion).  At the risk of jinxing my squad, the Bulls should save themselves the travel time/money and just stay home.

 

[Anarchy99]

easier to spin stories out of Brooklyn than Boston

you've got aging Durant (is he finished?? can he only win on a loaded team???)

Irving (vaccines, flat earth, bad teammate)

Nash (is he actually..... doing.... anything??)

Ben Simmons (look at how he dresses!! he quit! he's a baby!)

you can run those stories back on every show for months.

Boston has...... a turnaround after a slow start?

the amazing story of....... Robert Williams playoff return?

Boston went 31-10 in the second half of the season with a +13 point scoring margin. They led the league in a ton of categories the second half of the season. The point being, they have been steamrolling teams the second half of the year. Their geeky, advanced analytics numbers for the entire season ended up the same as the Suns . . . meaning Boston's second half numbers were insane. The Celtics have been playing phenomenal basketball for 4 months . . . and the storyline after sweeping the Nest has 95% been about Brooklyn. Of the teams moving on to Round 2, Tatum and Brown averaged more combined PPG in the regular season than any combo (50.5) except for Embiid and Harden (51.6).

Maybe no one noticed, cared, or believes the Celtics are legit. They went to the ECF 3 of the past 5 years. There should be something about them the media could talk about. But the storyline has been how did the Nets lose 4 games in a row and how did they get bounced so early.

Updated chances to win the title:
538 RAPTOR: BOS 42% (PHO second at 18%)
538 ELO: BOS 48% (PHO second at 11%)
ESPN BPI: BOS 23.4% (MIL second at 16.1%)
Basketball Reference: BOS 29.5% (PHO second at 21.3%)

Still barely a peep about the C's. Maybe that will change for the next series . . .

 

[gruecd]

Still barely a peep about the C's. Maybe that will change for the next series . . .

I'm sure it will.  There's absolutely no team that the media likes talking about less than the Bucks.  They're just a bunch of boring, no-drama, good guys who play together and value winning above all else.  

 

[Mister CIA]

THEE Iron Sheik?

OUR IRON SHEIK??  

600,000 followers can't be wrong.  One of my favorite follows on Twitter. 

 

[NutterButter]

I think the national media exhausts all their allotted Boston praise for the Pats.  Maybe now that their run is over, the Celts will be getting a more favorable share.   

 

[Gr00vus]

I could see them trading AD for him. What else is involved is as good a guess as me. 

I think we're at the point in the show where the Nets will have to pay someone to take Simmons off their hands.

AD isn't going anywhere.

 

[Jayrod]

I think the national media exhausts all their allotted Boston praise for the Pats.  Maybe now that their run is over, the Celts will be getting a more favorable share.   

Obviously, my Twitter feed is littered with Celtics content (including Anna Horford )

But the downside is I get a crapton of Pats and Red Sox content as well, which I hate.

 

[Capella]

I too, often say that nobody in the national media talks about Boston teams. 

 

[offdee]

LeVine out for game 5 (COVID) and Caruso questionable (concussion).  At the risk of jinxing my squad, the Bulls should save themselves the travel time/money and just stay home.

Dang.  We need more time for Middleton to heal!   And I wanted to watch a Bucks game Friday night!!!

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

LeVine out for game 5 (COVID) and Caruso questionable (concussion).  At the risk of jinxing my squad, the Bulls should save themselves the travel time/money and just stay home.

Maybe they can meet halfway and have a quick game at the Brat Stop parking lot, save gas money and hotel money.  

 

[CletiusMaximus]

Not that it matters any, but I find it interesting that both the national media and Boston media so far have focused way more on the Nets inadequacies and what went wrong with not a lot of talk about the Celtics. The narrative has zeroed in on the hot mess that is Brooklyn, and not a lot of discussion about the Celtics beating them. Most discussion and analysis nationally centered on the Nets losing. So far, mostly a couple footnotes about Boston.

Surprised that a lot of Boston sports talk has centered on KD, Kyrie, Simmons, and Nash. I get it, the Nets press conferences are entertaining. Some banter about the C's defense and Tatum emerging. I find that odd, as I would have expected more of a focus about here's what the Celts did and review their highlights and interview the Boston players. But most of what I saw was all interviews of Brooklyn guys and then at the end a snippet of a Celtics player or two. I guess even the Boston media has taken the approach that the Nets losing was a bigger story than the Celtics winning.

There's going to be plenty of time to write about the Celtics. Their next game isn't even on the calendar.  The story for now is the Nets being swept.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

LeVine out for game 5 (COVID) and Caruso questionable (concussion).  At the risk of jinxing my squad, the Bulls should save themselves the travel time/money and just stay home.

Decent lower level seats are available for $110-$125. Everyone is looking to the next series it seems. I gave my tickets to the last game (the one loss) to my son so may have to go to this one.

 

[General Malaise]

Boston went 31-10 in the second half of the season with a +13 point scoring margin. They led the league in a ton of categories the second half of the season. The point being, they have been steamrolling teams the second half of the year. Their geeky, advanced analytics numbers for the entire season ended up the same as the Suns . . . meaning Boston's second half numbers were insane. The Celtics have been playing phenomenal basketball for 4 months . . . and the storyline after sweeping the Nest has 95% been about Brooklyn. Of the teams moving on to Round 2, Tatum and Brown averaged more combined PPG in the regular season than any combo (50.5) except for Embiid and Harden (51.6).

Maybe no one noticed, cared, or believes the Celtics are legit. They went to the ECF 3 of the past 5 years. There should be something about them the media could talk about. But the storyline has been how did the Nets lose 4 games in a row and how did they get bounced so early.

Updated chances to win the title:
538 RAPTOR: BOS 42% (PHO second at 18%)
538 ELO: BOS 48% (PHO second at 11%)
ESPN BPI: BOS 23.4% (MIL second at 16.1%)
Basketball Reference: BOS 29.5% (PHO second at 21.3%)

Still barely a peep about the C's. Maybe that will change for the next series . . .

I noticed.  On Feb 16th, I was shocked to see DraftKings was offering the Celts up at +3000 to win the whole enchilada, so I hit that bid immediately.  Only regret was not betting more.

If you have The Athletic, I strongly encourage you to read the excellent Jason Quick piece on the Celtics.  If you can get through the noise of entertainment sports talk, there's some really solid journalism out there and writers actually capturing the meat of the bones.  

Go Boston!

 

[Jayrod]

Luka is such a cool kid, I'm starting to root for them in the West.

Dallas/Boston Finals would be cool.

 

[General Malaise]

I think the national media exhausts all their allotted Boston praise for the Pats.  Maybe now that their run is over, the Celts will be getting a more favorable share.   

Ummmmmmm........RED SOX DOWN?  

 

[Jayrod]

Ummmmmmm........RED SOX DOWN?  

Yes.  Way down.

- A Cards fan

 

[General Malaise]

I think we're at the point in the show where the Nets will have to pay someone to take Simmons off their hands.

AD isn't going anywhere.

Ship him to Portland for CJ McC..............oh yeah, right.  God, what a ####### stupid trade that was.  Hey New Orleans, here is CJ McCollum.  We'll take literally nothing for him.  Oh, and take Nance too, he's terrible.  

God it sucks living in a one-horse town with feckless management.

 

[General Malaise]

Yes.  Way down.

- A Cards fan

Yes, but as a guy living a million miles away, I still hear more about the Red Sox than any other team in baseball not named The Yankees.  

 

[CletiusMaximus]

If anyone is getting short shrift in the media right now, its the Heat.  #1 seed going for the gentleman's sweep tonight at home and its on NBA TV?  Then they sit home and wait for the mangled corpse of whoever comes out of the 4-5 matchup. Playing  some of the best defense in the league right now and it seems no one gives them a prayer to win this?

 

[General Malaise]

I too, often say that nobody in the national media talks about Boston teams. 

If we were the space aliens from the Simpsons, landed in Salina Kansas and flipped on sports talk radio, how long do you think we'd have to listen before a Boston team was mentioned?  I'll set the over/under at 2.5 minutes.

 

[General Malaise]

There's going to be plenty of time to write about the Celtics. Their next game isn't even on the calendar.  The story for now is the Nets being swept.

Not just the Nets - it's three of the most disliked professional athletes on the planet getting swept.  It's a time to rejoice!  It's grand when the epitome of entitlement (Simmons), arrogance (Kyrie) and petulance (KD) get taken out behind the woodshed and spanked.  

 

[NutterButter]

Ummmmmmm........RED SOX DOWN?  

Talking the major sports. 

 

[General Malaise]

Talking the major sports. 

That's fair. 

 

[Toby2ElectricBugaloo]

Chatter like this is in the NBA thread is like half the reason I came back to the forums. I was checking out the matchups a few weeks ago and realized how much more I used to enjoy the playoffs when I was talking to and hearing from you all the next day. It's a lot more fun watching the Wolves come up, or the Nets collapse, or the upcoming Bucks-Celts bloodbath, when you associate those teams with people you chat with a lot and you get to read the insights of those people, who know a lot more about their teams than you.  

Anyway, I was right, it has been a lot more fun to watch since I came back. Thanks to all of you for that.  I'll stop being earnest and go back to being an argumentative dork now.

 

[msudaisy26]

Again the lack of respect or interest in the Mavs...who absolutely annihilated the Jazz. It was so much fun to watch. 

1. The defense looks amazing. Locked in. 

2. The Luka at center lineup was reminiscent of the 2015 Warriors. Lighting people up around an incredible superstar who's ok on D, but everyone else is really good on D...except all 5 guys can shoot, no Iguodala or Draymond.

3. Whiteside ejected properly. Bullock ejected overreaction. LOVE seeing Bullock and DFS immediately step to #### a guy up after the cheap shot on Luka. Not people I would want to mess with.

4. Luka looked more like Luka and Brunson was better adjusted to being on the floor with him than Game 4. 

5. Things are breaking for Dallas here. They always struggle with Booker, but a Booker-less Phoenix or a Pelicans team they whopped this season would both be very nice. They'll eat Valanciunas alive.

1. Teams that play this way are usually boring. No one talks about boring. Trust me, I know boring I am a Piston fan. You are going to have to enjoy it yourself until they make a finals. Assuming they close out Utah this is the first series this team has won with Luka. Let's hold off on the respect card. 

2. This version of the Mavs should never be mentioned in the same sentence as the 2015 Warriors. 

5. Things are breaking for Dallas, but I still think they are in the second tier of playoff teams that not only have to play extremely well to make a run to the finals, but have to get lucky too. 

 

[msudaisy26]

My hot take on Utah. 

Pick a lane this off-season. 

Either sell everything off and start over and I mean everything. 

Go all in and the hell with the future and find a 1a to Mitchell. I would go this route. 

Otherwise this team will be like Portland the last 8ish years. A 1st or 2nd round exit almost every year and if the stars line up one year they might make a conference finals and get smoked by a legit title contender. 

 

[General Malaise]

My hot take on Utah. 

Pick a lane this off-season. 

Either sell everything off and start over and I mean everything. 

Go all in and the hell with the future and find a 1a to Mitchell. I would go this route. 

Otherwise this team will be like Portland the last 8ish years. A 1st or 2nd round exit almost every year and if the stars line up one year they might make a conference finals and get smoked by a legit title contender. 

The biggest problem for both Portland and Utah is they are almost forced to draft perfectly.  Good NBA players want nothing to do with these cities so free agency is really not an option.  And if you trade for a guy and they don't like their new city, they'll show you how little they like it on the court (Robert Covington comes to mind).  It's really frustrating as a fan.

 

[Jayrod]

My hot take on Utah. 

Pick a lane this off-season. 

Either sell everything off and start over and I mean everything. 

Go all in and the hell with the future and find a 1a to Mitchell. I would go this route. 

Otherwise this team will be like Portland the last 8ish years. A 1st or 2nd round exit almost every year and if the stars line up one year they might make a conference finals and get smoked by a legit title contender. 

That's a good take.  I've admired Utah in the past and think that loss to Denver after being up 3-1 in the bubble was the beginning of the end.  They had a 2x DPOY, Mitchell was put up 50 pt games and they were still losing.

 

[msudaisy26]

The biggest problem for both Portland and Utah is they are almost forced to draft perfectly.  Good NBA players want nothing to do with these cities so free agency is really not an option.  And if you trade for a guy and they don't like their new city, they'll show you how little they like it on the court (Robert Covington comes to mind).  It's really frustrating as a fan.

Absolutely. Half the league has this problem. The only way to change it is to gamble. You have to be a contender in these cities then free agents will come or traded players will stay. Go Toronto style when they gambled on Kawhi. 

 

[Anarchy99]

The biggest problem for both Portland and Utah is they are almost forced to draft perfectly.  Good NBA players want nothing to do with these cities so free agency is really not an option.  And if you trade for a guy and they don't like their new city, they'll show you how little they like it on the court (Robert Covington comes to mind).  It's really frustrating as a fan.

Small market teams or not desired destinations can really only attract secondary free agents and overpay them. Boston went through the same thing over the last few years. They got much better through the draft, but their free agent signings were pretty meh. Signing guys like Al Horford, Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker to max deals was not their best maneuver. They traded for Kyrie, but he bailed as soon as he could. They were in the running for KD but he signed with GS instead. The word is out that Boston is not a great place for minority players and the weather is not Miami.

Part of the problem with the max contract structure is that bright light cities, destination locations, or guys looking to form a super team aren't going to flock to Portland or Denver or Detroit. Small market teams need to start somewhere, so they need to get a blue-chip player from somewhere and hope they can play well enough as a team to attract a decent second tier free agent. Now with two solid players, hopefully they can recruit a third and then they could become a legit contender. Tough to do, but that's the way of the world unless a team completely tanks for several years to load up on good lottery picks. Unfortunately, there's nothing worse than being a .500 team / consistent 6-8 seed in basketball. Not bad enough to get lottery picks, not good enough to attract free agents, and effectively end up in limbo.

 

[General Malaise]

Absolutely. Half the league has this problem. The only way to change it is to gamble. You have to be a contender in these cities then free agents will come or traded players will stay. Go Toronto style when they gambled on Kawhi. 

Yes, I think other teams in the NBA have this problem too, but it's augmented in Portland and Utah for numerous reasons that have nothing to do with the franchises.  NBA players want to live in Salt Lake about as much I want to live in Bangladesh.  Portland is cool, but it's tiny, remote and the weather is gloomy during the season. I could also point to demographics being a contributing factor.  These aren't destination places and I hear ya, Memphis, New Orleans, San Antonio, Charlotte etc, they all have the same problems as Utah and Portland vis a vis free agency, but at least those cities are closer to other big cities with warmer weather and better food.  I don't see too many NBA guys on the ski slopes of Park City or enjoying a 55 degree August day on the Oregon Coast. 

 

[Navin Johnson]

Brooklyn was +550 to win it all at the start of the playoffs.  Fair to say this might be the most overrated pro team in history?

They should sign Westbrook and have four of the most hated NBA guys of all time.  Though I'm sure Simmons still wouldn't play. 

Good riddance, turd eaters.

Sonics were +180 heading into the playoffs when Denver knocked them out

 

[Toby2ElectricBugaloo]

If anyone is getting short shrift in the media right now, its the Heat.  #1 seed going for the gentleman's sweep tonight at home and its on NBA TV?  Then they sit home and wait for the mangled corpse of whoever comes out of the 4-5 matchup. Playing  some of the best defense in the league right now and it seems no one gives them a prayer to win this?

Now, as I understand it you still have two wishes left on that monkey's paw, but you might want to think about not using them.

 

[General Malaise]

Sonics were +180 heading into the playoffs when Denver knocked them out

+180 to win the West or win it all?   Boy, +180 seems light considering Hakeem and his Rockets were #2 seed.  

 

[General Malaise]

Sonics were +180 heading into the playoffs when Denver knocked them out

I just looked, you were right!  Nice pull.

 

[mr. furley]

Boston went 31-10 in the second half of the season with a +13 point scoring margin. They led the league in a ton of categories the second half of the season. The point being, they have been steamrolling teams the second half of the year. Their geeky, advanced analytics numbers for the entire season ended up the same as the Suns . . . meaning Boston's second half numbers were insane. The Celtics have been playing phenomenal basketball for 4 months . . . and the storyline after sweeping the Nest has 95% been about Brooklyn. Of the teams moving on to Round 2, Tatum and Brown averaged more combined PPG in the regular season than any combo (50.5) except for Embiid and Harden (51.6).

Maybe no one noticed, cared, or believes the Celtics are legit. They went to the ECF 3 of the past 5 years. There should be something about them the media could talk about. But the storyline has been how did the Nets lose 4 games in a row and how did they get bounced so early.

Updated chances to win the title:
538 RAPTOR: BOS 42% (PHO second at 18%)
538 ELO: BOS 48% (PHO second at 11%)
ESPN BPI: BOS 23.4% (MIL second at 16.1%)
Basketball Reference: BOS 29.5% (PHO second at 21.3%)

Still barely a peep about the C's. Maybe that will change for the next series . . .

yeah, that's all great basketball related stuff.... how does that relate to the Kardashian's in any way?

did Tatum like a picture on Instagram of someone that Jaylen Brown used to date? 

did Smart tweet a picture of Brad Stevens in front of a rainbow?

did Pritchard tweet something untoward when he as 15????

start doing that kind of stuff and the Celtics will get all the ESPN and sports talk radio time they can handle.

 

[Navin Johnson]

+180 to win the West or win it all?   Boy, +180 seems light considering Hakeem and his Rockets were #2 seed.  

To win it all.

 

[Navin Johnson]

That “We Believe” Warriors team was fun and pretty memorable. It was certainly a big deal at the time. 

Went to Games 3 and 4 of both the Dallas and Utah series in 2007.

My wife and I have birthdays a week apart in March.  She is a huge Dirk fan and thru some scheduling quirk, GS seemed to host DAL the week of our birthdays for several consecutive years so we always went up and saw them.  We pretty much owned DAL for a three year stretch.  GSW went 3-0 against the Mavs in '07 including snapping a 21-game(?) win streak when the played in March.  Made a good chunk of change flipping my game 6 seats and getting on GSW +1000 (opened at +1200)

Loudest stadium I've ever been in when Davis smashed AK.  

 

[General Malaise]

yeah, that's all great basketball related stuff.... how does that relate to the Kardashian's in any way?

did Tatum like a picture on Instagram of someone that Jaylen Brown used to date? 

did Smart tweet a picture of Brad Stevens in front of a rainbow?

did Pritchard tweet something untoward when he as 15????

start doing that kind of stuff and the Celtics will get all the ESPN and sports talk radio time they can handle.

God, sad to say but this is the galldarn truth.