"Major changes" coming for Boston Celtics?

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New York #Knicks will be the #Celtics 2nd round opponent! GM1- Monday in Boston.  "Major changes" coming for Boston Celtics?  ESPN's Shams Charania via: "This iteration just is not going to be sustainable..."

Transcript

00:00And Shams with a little buzzkill yesterday on the Pat McAfee show

00:06and changes may be coming to the Boston Celtics.

00:10We talked about this earlier.

00:13But, I mean, if Jason Tatum is your guy, then it's got to be –

00:17you're going to have to go forward with maybe one J and not both Js,

00:22and you'll find out if Jason Tatum is the guy.

00:25I am officially against this in any capacity.

00:27I will not give the new ownership the pass of the new – what the CBA means.

00:31I have the Celtics draft history right in front of me.

00:34So you heard him say they could freeze draft picks.

00:37Ooh, boy.

00:38So since the Celtics drafted Jason Tatum in 2017, that is eight years ago,

00:45there is one player that the Celtics drafted that is a contributing member to the team,

00:51and that's Peyton Pritchard.

00:53He was drafted 26th overall five years ago.

00:56So if you lose your draft picks, you're going to be picking 29th or 30th every year anyway.

01:02It doesn't matter.

01:02I don't care.

01:03Pay the effing tax.

01:04Like, this team is ready-made with the best players being in the middle of their prime

01:09or entering their prime.

01:11I don't get – like, Wiggy is okay with it.

01:13If they win it this year, Wiggy's okay with it.

01:17I'm not okay with it.

01:18Like, if you win it this year, that means, to me, you have to keep the band together.

01:24Like, I don't think he's saying he's okay with it.

01:26I'm not okay with it.

01:28I'm saying that if you win it back-to-back –

01:31It's more likely.

01:31It's more likely, and it lessens the blow for – because you're not going from being

01:36one of the better teams in the NBA to, all right, now they traded all these guys

01:41and it's just Jason Tatum.

01:42They stink.

01:42Like, that's not going to be the thing.

01:44The thing is going to be, he said five guys.

01:47That's basically your five starters.

01:49That's the two Js, Porzingis, Derek White, and Drew Holiday.

01:54So, in order for it to work moving forward, you as an organization have to say, okay,

02:00do we potentially keep the Js and lose the other three?

02:04And then we plug, you know, Pete Pritch becomes a starter.

02:07Then we find another, you know.

02:09I'm just – the concept of the big three.

02:12Right.

02:12Wherever that is, is, I guess, maybe, not going to be something that is sustainable

02:19in the NBA going forward because of the collective bargaining agreement.

02:23Now, I would guess that the Lakers are going to do everything that they possibly can

02:29to line their big three up.

02:31Yeah, it's about – it can be done, but the owner's got to be willing to pay the taxes

02:37and penalties and the payroll.

02:39But generally, you see, like, Golden State's owner did it because he knew they built a new

02:45arena in San Francisco.

02:47The Lakers are able to do it because they own their arena.

02:50This owner might say, well, we're not going to do it because guess what?

02:54We have to pay rent every single year, and who knows what that costs.

02:58So that might be a factor on we need to trim some of that payroll so we can get that number

03:06lower.

03:07Curtis wanted us to put a poll up this morning, and we did, and 121 votes in.

03:14And would you be okay with major changes to the Celtics roster this offseason?

03:20And as you would imagine, 67.8% are not okay with those changes.

03:26I do wish we had added if they won a championship.

03:29If they won, if it makes a difference.

03:31Yeah, if it makes a difference.

03:32But I'm with Greg.

03:34But in Wiggy, I understand you saying you wouldn't be okay with it, but it does seem like you

03:37would rather bring in a Giannis.

03:39Yeah, that's what he wants.

03:40Right.

03:41No, no, but you have to do that to still be competitive.

03:44Right?

03:44You have to do that.

03:45If you can't pay the starting five because they're all making over $28 million, you have

03:50to figure out and say, okay, who are we willing to lose so we can lower that number, and then

03:57who can we bring in to still keep us competitive to compete for a championship?

04:03I was talking to a guy last night who loves Jason Tatum and Giannis together.

04:07Like, if you could ever make that happen, doesn't care if that means that Jalen Brown is gone,

04:13if that means that Kristaps Borzingis is gone, doesn't matter.

04:17And that guy's mine.

04:18But if you're the Celtics ownership in front office and you're Brad Stevens, you have to

04:24start looking.

04:25If the new owner is saying to you, we're not paying this, we have to figure it out.

04:29You now have to look and say what's important.

04:31And I would also say this, Greg.

04:33Like, I don't want the media.

04:34I know Comcast.

04:36I know the rights holders.

04:37I know the people out there will talk about this like it's a fait accompli.

04:41That they have to do this to remain viable.

04:43Unless the new owners show me their spreadsheets and say this is money we're losing, I don't

04:48believe it.

04:49And there's nothing you can tell me that they could do that would jeopardize this run that

04:54was years in the making to get this collection of guys together under contract in Boston for

05:00this period.

05:01But to be clear with the direction that they're going to go in, they're now using the basketball

05:08penalty portion.

05:10Right.

05:10The second apron.

05:11It's not the money.

05:13It's the penalty that the team is going to suffer.

05:16What puts you into the second apron?

05:21Spending money.

05:22Yes.

05:22Right.

05:22So this is a rule that the owners, WIC, all the owners of the NBA put into place.

05:30So if you say, if you go to the ATM and you take out $500 and you go out and you're gambling

05:35and you tell Brees, we only have $500.

05:38Yeah.

05:39That's true.

05:40But you could have taken out more than $500.

05:42It's not the only thing you have in your bank account.

05:44And so I just don't believe the owners.

05:47If you're going to tell me that you're buying this team at the top of its value at $6 billion

05:51and your first act is to cut costs, then I say you're full of crap.

05:54Right.

05:55This is Bill in the car.

05:57Bill, good morning.

05:59Good morning, guys.

06:00I just wanted to say that they should leave it together and just win about five or six

06:07in a row, and then they'll be worth even more.

06:11Yeah.

06:12Your lips to Bill Chisholm's ears, I guess.

06:15If Bill Chisholm had Jeff Bezos' money, maybe he doesn't.

06:18But does it seem like, all right, if you're cutting costs, don't you look and go, okay,

06:25well, I mean, I got money.

06:27Don't get it twisted.

06:28I'm not saying he don't got money.

06:29But he's like, don't have to have funny money where Bezos is like, all right, I'm paying

06:34the luxury tax.

06:35Not many people do.

06:36I mean, it's really Bezos and Elon.

06:42But again, like you're spending, this happens if you're going to pay the most ever for an

06:49NBA franchise $6 billion, then you're either going to be all in and spend whatever it takes

06:55or you're going to find a way to make that work for you.

06:58Because if Sham's saying it right, isn't he hearing whispers from what potentially people

07:05in the front office of the Celtics are thinking?

07:07I know, kind of the way he said it, he's kind of like hearing it around the league, like

07:11the league is saying, there's no way they can keep this going, and there's no way that

07:15they can keep doing this.

07:16But Curtis is right.

07:17They can do it as long as they want.

07:18Curtis was also right, though.

07:19It's interesting timing for this to come out.

07:21Of course.

07:21The day that they approved the sale, now we're past the point of no return.

07:25The most plugged-in guy in the sports telling you what their plans are.

07:28This is Scott from Westford.

07:30Hey, Scott.

07:31What's going on?

07:33Good morning.

07:34How are you?

07:34We're doing great.

07:35We're in Springfield, Massachusetts.

07:38Good morning.

07:39Love it.

07:40Great road show attendance.

07:41Great crowd last night at TAPS.

07:44We're awesome.

07:45Scott.

07:46I can't wait to go body surfing before Bernie's again.

07:50This will be the third one.

07:52All right.

07:53Excellent.

07:53That's me.

07:53Anyways, so I have a question, and this is a legit question for the whole room and everybody.

08:04So all these taxes, if they spend money, obviously they're going to earn money because we're all

08:11fans and whatnot.

08:12But whose pockets get lined by all these fines?

08:17Is it the commissioner?

08:19Is it all the owners?

08:20How does that work?

08:22It goes back to the league.

08:25It's not about paying the bills.

08:27It's about penalizing teams.

08:29It's about trying to create parity.

08:32You know, same with the NFL.

08:34It's not about trying to raise funds to keep the lights on at the league office.

08:39But it is a legal form of collusion.

08:41Like, it's something that the owners do legally in a collective bargaining agreement to tell

08:45players this is as much as we'll spend before we have massive penalties.

08:48And the Celtics being ahead of this, what Wick said to us at Wachusett resonated because he

08:55said, I don't think there will be any team that spends two years in the second apron.

09:02And that means that they're not going to do it and they're going to cut costs.

09:05Yeah.

09:06Well, you better enjoy this one while you can.

09:08Right.

09:09So...

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