Could Celtics add Durant in the offseason? Celtics insider  Meghan Ottolini joins! - video Dailymotion

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Could Celtics add Durant in the offseason? Celtics insider  Meghan Ottolini joins! How much credit does Mazzulla deserve? #NBA JT, DWhite, or PPritch- Who will have the 3pt record end of season? Could Maine's own Cooper Flagg be a Celtic? Is he the best NCAA freshman ever?

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00:00And Meggo is here this morning to talk all about that.

00:03Good morning.

00:04Hello.

00:05Good morning.

00:06Winter's back.

00:07How are you?

00:08Yeah, it is.

00:09But I mean, it's going to be 70 on Friday for the home opener, so I think we're getting

00:11there.

00:12I'm going to be in a wonderful Phoenix Suns game without Kevin Durant.

00:17That's where we are in the NBA schedule.

00:19Kevin Durant, I think yesterday said he would love to join the Celtics roster.

00:23You would take like a minimum, right?

00:25Yeah, that's the whispers out there.

00:28Would you want to add Kevin Durant?

00:30No.

00:31No?

00:32You're not interested?

00:33No.

00:34Maybe even three or four years ago, but I like the Celtics team as it is, and I would

00:38like it not to change.

00:39Okay.

00:40Well, it looks like it potentially could be changed.

00:41I know.

00:42I know.

00:43You got about another year, maybe.

00:44Well, look, if we're talking about wishful thinking and idea land, then fantasy land,

00:49then I would say, yeah, don't change the roster.

00:50Well, and the best part about this roster is that Joe Mazzuolo is keeping everybody

00:53engaged.

00:55As you get to this point, he was coach of the month for the East, so you look at Joe

00:59Mazzuolo, how much credit do you give him for keeping everybody in it?

01:02I mean, I think that the program overall deserves a lot more credit than sometimes we give because

01:08we talk so much about all the Celtics spending and into the second apron, and Brad Stevens

01:12gets a ton of credit for what he's done for putting the roster together, but if you look

01:16at the development of the guys, I think is the bigger point, Courtney, year over year,

01:21look at Peyton Pritchard compared to who he was two and a half years ago when he was trying

01:25to leave this team.

01:27Look at Derek White, when they brought him in from the Spurs, I don't know if anybody

01:31thought that he could be a starter in this league, let alone somebody who is breaking

01:35a three-point single season record like he has.

01:38So I think the development team that takes these guys who are from G League to the Stay

01:44Ready group to somewhere in the rotation and is able to bring out what they've brought

01:49out in their guys, they deserve all the credit.

01:52Yeah, because Pete Pritch probably could go somewhere else and be a legit starter on a

01:56team, be a legit scorer for another team, and he's obviously worked his role perfectly.

02:02You talk about, Courtney, you've been on Derek White for several years now, what he's grown

02:06into as a player, I mean, it's pretty impressive.

02:09Yeah, it is.

02:10He passed Isaiah Thomas.

02:12Isaiah Thomas had that record, which was kind of-

02:15Yeah, from 2016, 2017, IT, the best, king of the fourth.

02:19But Pritchard is right there as well.

02:21Yeah, and so is Tatum.

02:22Tatum's at 240, I think, and-

02:24Tatum could break it this week as well.

02:27Derek just said it, Tatum could then break it.

02:30It's a fun place to be.

02:31It could be like a Larry Bird, Kevin McHale thing, like, Derek, you better get up as many

02:35shots as possible because I'm breaking it.

02:38What are you hearing, if anything, about Jalen Brown and seven games left?

02:42Is he going to play a lot?

02:43Is he not going to play at all?

02:47What are you hearing about him?

02:48As always, I think it's a balancing act with how you keep a guy healthy and his conditioning

02:55where it needs to be and getting, honestly, the starters together for a little bit more

02:59play as they head into the stretch of the seven games because they've only played, like,

03:03they've only started 20-odd games together this entire season, which would be more alarming

03:08if they weren't running it back from last year.

03:10With Jalen, it's just that, from what I know, that bone bruise, that contusion, which seems

03:17painful.

03:18I mean, you want to try to find something, I guess, that could be alarming, but then

03:23you realize that the Celtics team in March went 14-1.

03:29So I mean, they're going to have to work hard not to get to the NBA Finals.

03:36Knock on wood.

03:37Yeah.

03:38Yeah.

03:39It's all about them staying healthy and getting to the Finals at this point.

03:44Were you surprised at Jason Tatum once he was back after the ankle roll that he seemed

03:48to be good to go?

03:49No.

03:50Tatum doesn't surprise me at this point.

03:53I think that he really dodged a bullet.

03:55Everybody dodged a bullet with that play, and we talked about that last week, but when

04:00he says he's good to go, he's good to go.

04:02And hopefully there's nothing lingering there at all, but it doesn't seem to be.

04:05And those ankle rolls, like, they're so common.

04:07You brought up Kevin Durant.

04:08How about they're pesky?

04:09You brought up Kevin Durant.

04:10I mean, it's like something that, you know, he had happen.

04:13Is it pesky?

04:14Yes.

04:15What did you say?

04:16It's pesky.

04:17It's pesky.

04:18As soon as I said it, I said it.

04:19What did you say?

04:20It could have been pesky.

04:22She was thinking frisky.

04:23Right.

04:24She said they're pesky.

04:25Well, they're like little pests.

04:26I like that we get an insight into how your brain works.

04:34So the word you feel comes from pest, and then therefore it's pesky.

04:40But were you thinking frisky, though?

04:42No, I was thinking pesky, I think.

04:45But pesky doesn't sound right either.

04:48It's neither here nor there.

04:49It really isn't.

04:50It really isn't.

04:51Damn it.

04:52Don't worry.

04:53That one's not going to haunt you.

04:54No.

04:55So when you think about, I guess, Meg, we're kind of going to fast forward to the playoffs.

05:00Yes, please.

05:01Oh, God.

05:02It's so awful.

05:03Is this the worst part of the season for you?

05:06Yeah.

05:07I would love to see some way that the league could figure this out to make this last stretch

05:11a little bit more meaningful.

05:12What do you want?

05:13Another play?

05:14Like an end of the season play-in tournament?

05:15No.

05:16But with a team this good, I don't know.

05:18Maybe there's something that they can do with tiers of teams, because then you've got other

05:21teams who are clearly tanking.

05:2265 games.

05:23Too many games.

05:24But, Wiki, they're never going to cut games, because they're going to lose so much money.

05:28But I think-

05:29It's the same thing in every sport.

05:30That was Wiki's lead the other day.

05:31What did you want?

05:32How many games did you want?

05:33I think 65, 65 games, 68 games per, because the last 15-

05:37Well, it needs to be even.

05:39Oh, okay.

05:40So let's call it 68, because the last-

05:41I guess the NFL's 17, so we'll go with that.

05:43The last 15 games of the regular season are just like, ugh, this is a waste of time, right?

05:50So when you start to look at the last 15 games of the regular NBA season, it's really a waste

05:55of time.

05:56Even with some of those teams that are fighting for that play-in round, it's like, what are

06:02we doing here?

06:03And I would like to push the start of the season a little bit further back, and then

06:08you could still have this thing where you could still-

06:10And then set the limit.

06:12I know it's at 65 for the awards.

06:14If you had a 68-game regular season, set it at 60 for the awards.

06:18Hey, let's work for me.

06:19I would be for it.

06:21I just don't think they'll do it.

06:22You are well-connected with the Celtics.

06:24You're a great reporter.

06:25You're over there doing some videos for them.

06:26Uh-oh, where is this going?

06:27So I have a question.

06:28No, no, nothing bad.

06:30What is the feeling about how things may change?

06:34Is there trepidation?

06:36Is there confidence that things are going to remain the same when it comes to the eventual

06:40changing of the guard as the primary owner of the Celtics?

06:43I think it's still so early to know because they still haven't put forward with all the

06:49governors the approval of this new ownership.

06:52And I don't think that that's going to happen until after the finals are over.

06:57I don't think there's going to be any kind of an official voting announcement until that

07:02period because the league doesn't want to take anything away from the attention of the

07:06playoffs and the finals.

07:08I think it was very telling what Wick said with you guys talking about every team is

07:13looking to be in that window for two years, or not the window, but in the second apron

07:18for two years.

07:19I'm not a fan of the new CBA second apron, all of that.

07:23I think wanting parity in the league is not a good thing, actually.

07:29And I'm not just saying that as somebody who works with and covers the Celtics.

07:34I don't think that it's good for any league to have a completely different set of teams

07:39in the championship game every single year.

07:42It's been great for the NFL.

07:44No, I'm saying it's good to have a big bad coming back.

07:50It's good to have a Patriots team that you love and the rest of the team hates.

07:54I mean, the rest of the league hates.

07:56So the Chiefs would be an example.

07:58Exactly.

07:59But as an individual fandom, you want big stars and you want big names being back there.

08:04And I think if it's geared towards having eight different champions in a decade, that's

08:11actually not a great thing for getting attention on the league.

08:15And aren't most of the people that are following the sale and everything in the second apron

08:19and the potential penalty?

08:21Quickly, Wiggs.

08:22Have they been in the second apron?

08:23Is this their second year or would next year be the second year?

08:26I believe this is the second year.

08:28I may not be exactly on that, though.

08:31So if we take him at his word, the team will not be the same with stars.

08:35Or he said they're either going to make changes or be penalized, you know, basketball wise

08:41for not making.

08:42No, but he said no team would do it.

08:44So obviously that means his team won't do it.

08:47So they'd have to make changes.

08:48Well, and that's what I was getting ready to ask you.

08:50Doesn't it look like the future?

08:53And when I say the future, the next year, year and a half is that we're going to see

08:57a completely different Celtics team because of the penalties that the new owner is going

09:03to.

09:04I don't know if it has to be completely different.

09:05Like you say goodbye to somebody like Drew Holiday and then you have you were talking

09:08about Peyton Pritchard.

09:09But that's not going to be enough to have somebody who's going to step up.

09:11Yeah.

09:12But I don't I don't think that's going to be enough.

09:13And I think this is maybe the unicorn ends up being gone and you're going to you're going

09:18to have to eat them because he's only got one more year left to bring Al Horford back

09:22for another five years.

09:23Honestly, would you guys rather have Jalen and Jason or no Jalen and Porzingis, Drew

09:28Holiday and Pritchard?

09:29Jalen and Jason.

09:30One thousand.

09:31Yeah.

09:32I'd prefer to have a flag.

09:33Is that possible?

09:34Well, Saturday night.

09:35No, that's not the athletic.

09:37I want your opinion on this.

09:39Athletic wrote a piece yesterday about Cooper Flag being the best freshman ever in the history

09:46of college basketball.

09:48Brawny James, USC.

09:50What do you think about that?

09:51I love it.

09:52I think it's I I like off the top of my head, can I think of somebody else who has had a

09:59greater season?

10:00Kevin Durant was pretty good as freshman.

10:02Yeah.

10:03Wasn't Carmelo like insanely good?

10:04That's who I would think.

10:05Yes.

10:06But like stat for stat, I'm not sure about the comparison.

10:09I just I'm not that deep into the NCAA at this point.

10:14But like for me, it's God.

10:16For me, it's God.

10:17Sham God.

10:19I love that he's from Maine.

10:20Like if there's some way that they could work him to the Celtics when he's in free agency

10:26one day, one day, one day, that'll never happen.

10:32See the way you just watched the other night, the way Red was able to manipulate things

10:36and get Len bias and get that number to pick after winning championship after championship

10:40after championship.

10:41Well, unless unless Brad can pull a rabbit out the hat and get the number one overall

10:45pick.

10:46Yeah.

10:47And then you got to then you got to hope that he may be at one point in time on his second

10:53go around or second contract decides, you know what?

10:56I'll take less money to go play for Boston when he has the ability to potentially become

11:00a free agent.

11:01If you're going to trade Jalen Brown, you can trade Jalen Brown for that number one

11:04pick.

11:05Who's the number one pick is this year?

11:08Who?

11:09Who has it?

11:10Yeah.

11:11I don't know.

11:12Whoever has it.

11:13Who's one of the worst teams in the league?

11:14Wizards.

11:15Yeah.

11:17It would have to be this year, Greg.

11:18So you'd have to trade Jalen Brown this upcoming offseason at the draft, potentially to be

11:24one of those teams to get the lottery pick.

11:26So you have to do that.

11:27Yeah.

Could Celtics add Durant in the offseason? Celtics insider Meghan Ottolini joins!

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