On Friday's edition of Zolak and Bertrand, Tim McKone and Alex Barth react to the breaking news of Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics coming to terms on a multi-year contract extension.
00:00So Joe Mazzula getting that contract extension.
00:03We spent some time this offseason sort of talking about that.
00:06I think this is certainly a good thing long-term for the Boston Celtics.
00:10Joe Mazzula having that security here moving forward should have that security, to be totally honest.
00:15I don't think you should ever have a coach where it's in question about his future and the contract situation
00:20because, quite frankly, for an NBA organization and of the stature of the Boston Celtics,
00:25moving on from a coach, if you have to, that has salary remaining on his deal shouldn't be an issue.
00:30So I would never want to put my coach in a position where there is that sort of hanging over the locker room.
00:35So big thing for the Celtics.
00:36Going to be an interesting season for Joe Mazzula.
00:38This is going to be different than anything he's experienced so far in Boston,
00:41but I'm excited to see sort of how he kind of handles this.
00:44No, I was going to say, especially this year, you can't have him go,
00:47and I don't think he was truly a lame duck.
00:49I believe there was some sort of option, right?
00:51He wasn't truly expiring, but essentially a lame duck coach.
00:56You can't have a lame duck coach in a year where you're hitting a reset.
00:59Like, that's not fair to him.
01:00That's not fair to anybody because if the team struggles or there are going to be calls for his job,
01:05how many questions is he going to get when he's working with less than,
01:09and we know he's working with less than this year with Tatum out,
01:11and they're trying to reset the luxury tax and all of that.
01:14So I think they had to make a decision.
01:17I know he drew some questions, and they were very fair questions.
01:20After that playoff run, I never thought they were going to move on from him.
01:23No.
01:23But they had to do something.
01:25They couldn't just leave it going into this season,
01:28so an extension always made the most sense.
01:31The team's not going to announce the details.
01:33Maybe they get reported, but the team did say it's their policy not to announce details on contracts with coaches.
01:39But Joe's the guy.
01:41Joe's the guy, and I think getting him security through this year and next year
01:45as they reset and work their way, Tatum works his way back from the injury.
01:49That was important.
01:50It needed to be done.
01:52Good to get it done and get it done early.
01:54It's not lingering over them in camp or anything like that.
01:56Yeah, I mean, right decision, but yes, you've had two disappointing postseasons under this head coach as well.
02:01You go back to the Miami series, you had no business losing.
02:04You were the better team in that series.
02:06Obviously, Tatum gets hurt in the game seven,
02:08but you never should have been in a situation where you were down 0-3 to that Miami team.
02:12You win the championship last year, and then obviously this past season,
02:16you've got the debacle against New York.
02:18And look, the Tatum injury, a huge factor, but you were going to be down 3-1 in that series
02:23even with Jason Tatum, and that's not a position that that Boston Celtics team,
02:27for as talented as they are, and even with all the Chris Stapps, Porzingis stuff
02:30not breaking your way in terms of his health during that postseason run,
02:34you were the more talented team in that situation.
02:37You have a clip of Brad Stevens here, Milliken, from what, like a month ago
02:41talking about the contract situation.
02:43Let's listen to that.
02:44Brad, has there been any discussion with Joe Missoula about a contract extension?
02:52Joe, and first of all, I'll keep any of those discussions in-house,
02:56but we've got Joe under contract for multiple years right now,
03:03and so we certainly want Joe to be around here for a long time.
03:08Yeah, so that was the clip, and we had Holly in here,
03:11and I think Holly alluded to the fact that those were going to be team options for Missoula.
03:16So for himself, going in potentially in a lame duck year.
03:19What are your expectations for the Boston Celtics?
03:21I'm sure we're probably on different pages when it comes to this,
03:24but what do you have the Celtics at coming this year, Barth?
03:26I mean, I think anybody who thinks they're going to tank is just living in a fantasy world.
03:30Like, is Jalen Brown still on the team?
03:32Yes.
03:32Derek White still on the team?
03:33Mm-hmm.
03:34You've seen the rest of the East?
03:36They're going to win 50 games.
03:37Like, and it might be...
03:3950 games.
03:39Not 50, like 45, 50.
03:41They're going to be a top-six seed in the East.
03:44Barth, I think winning 50 games is almost as delusional here
03:48as when Joe told us they were going to win, what, was it like 35 games last year?
03:53Joe said they were going to win 35 games last year?
03:54Yes, he did some questions on the map there when we were talking about the schedule.
03:59So I think 45 to 50, the sixth seed in the NBA last year.
04:02The Pacers, by the way, won 50 games last year.
04:05The sixth seed in the East won 44 last year.
04:08I think they're going to be a top-six seed in the East.
04:10And it's not necessarily about them.
04:11It's about the rest of the conference.
04:12Tim, who's beating them in the conference?
04:15They're still better than the majority of these teams.
04:17Cleveland?
04:18That's one.
04:19New York?
04:20Meh.
04:21They just beat you with Jason Tatum last year.
04:24I refuse to believe in the Knicks having any sort of sustained success.
04:27All right, they split that season series.
04:29Fine.
04:29I think Detroit?
04:30Yeah, Detroit's good.
04:31I think Orlando?
04:32Yeah.
04:33And then, obviously, the Pacers, I think, are going to take a step back.
04:36We'll see what Milwaukee winds up looking like here with Giannis.
04:39That could be a little rough, too.
04:41So I think you're probably in that play-in range, would be my guess.
04:46Philadelphia, I think, is going to be better this year, too.
04:48You can make fun of me for that.
04:4950's probably the high end, but I think 45 to 50, somewhere in there.
04:53Because, again, there's just not a lot of talent in the East.
04:56Jalen Brown and Derek White, if they're healthy, that's still one of the best duos in the Eastern Conference.
05:01Now, again, it might be a very fake 45 to 50 win.
05:04It might be a very empty 45 to 50 win.
05:05So that's my question, right?
05:07Because you talk about tanking being delusional, right?
05:09I don't think there's a real title contender.
05:11To me, what's the benefit of a season like that?
05:13That's what I would say.
05:15What's the other option?
05:16To strategically tank.
05:18How are you going to do it?
05:19We saw it with Paul Pierce back in the day, right?
05:22All of a sudden, maybe in that second half, Jalen Brown, not 100%.
05:26Do you think Missoula's going to do that?
05:28Everything we know about Joe Missoula, do you think he has any intent of doing that?
05:31This would be a discussion that goes above Joe Missoula, though.
05:34You think Joe Missoula's going to be okay with that?
05:35You think Jalen Brown's going to be okay with that?
05:37He's been the number two guy here for so long.
05:40Here's his chance to prove he can be a number one, shut a lot of people up.
05:43And now for the team, he's got to do another sacrifice for Jason Tatum.
05:47Give up half a year of that for some fake pulled hammy.
05:49Get called soft for three months.
05:51I just want you to talk about the financial inflexibility that you're going to have moving forward with all the apron stuff.
05:57The best path forward in terms of adding an elite-level talent would be to do the one-year reset.
06:05It would be.
06:06Are they going to do it?
06:07No, I don't think they are.
06:08But I think that should be a discussion that they have.
06:10I absolutely think it should be.
06:12I would love it if they could get in the lottery this year.
06:14I compared Tatum getting hurt to Brady in 09, and you look at what they did, and it's football, so it's a little different because it's a bigger roster.
06:21But that 9, 10, and obviously they go to the Super Bowl in 11, but that window was a lot of moving on from the core from those first three Super Bowls, and then coming back in that range.
06:34They had Slater, Edelman, Gronk, McCourty, Hightower.
06:38Well, it helps when you nail the draft the way that the Patriots certainly did in that.
06:41It went from Brady was the quarterback, obviously he was the face, but it was Tom Brady supported by a group of veterans, and then when Brady came back, he was the veteran leading a young team.
06:53That's what I want it to be with Tatum and Brown when Tatum comes back.
06:57So ideally, yeah, I'd love it if they could get in the lottery and do that.
07:00Unfortunately for them, the East sucks.
07:02If they're in the West, whole other conversation.
07:05Whole other conversation.
07:06I think the East is too bad, and I just don't think, I think Missoula's mentality, I think Jalen Brown's mentality, I don't think those guys are going to willingly embrace a tank.
07:16I think if the organization wants to do it, they're going to somehow have to drag those guys into it kicking and screaming, and now you risk damaging relationships long-term.
07:25I don't know about the long-term damage in terms of relationship with Joe Missoula.
07:29I think the Jalen Brown stuff you absolutely have to navigate and have long conversations with him, and I agree.
07:34I don't think ultimately they're going to wind up tanking, because I think the more you listen to Brad Stevens, it doesn't feel like that's on the table.
07:39My whole takeaway with it, and my approach to this, though, would just be looking at it, and I understand what you're saying.
07:44They could maybe be a 50, I think 50 wins is absurd, but what does that get you as the Boston Celtics?
07:54What is a season like a 45-win season, 46-win season in the play-in tournament, and you get bounced?
07:58What does that get you?
07:59Nothing.
07:59So why not take a year off here, if you're going to have it, with Jason Tatum, and try to actually get an asset that is going to lead to, potentially, a greater opportunity to win a championship once Tatum and Brown are back together?
08:12It goes back to, I'm going to give the same take I gave Patriots Bills Week 18 last year.
08:17Tanking happens from the GM up.
08:19There's no incentive for the coach.
08:20There's a little more now that he has his contract extension, but there's zero incentive for players to tank.
08:24Like, no player is going to willingly be like, you want me to play bad and hurt my value, so you can go out and draft my replacement?
08:31No, I want him to be like other NBA players that are totally fine with taking nights off, right?
08:35Okay, well, this is, here's the, like, he hasn't been that guy, and that's been great, and that's part of the reason a lot of people love him.
08:42Now you just have to deal with the other side of that coin.
08:44I don't think he's going to do that.
08:45And you know what?
08:46I'm fine with that because when Tatum does come back and they are full go again, you want a guy with that killer mentality.
08:52I just, I don't think, tanking's a dangerous thing because you let that thing in the door of you don't care about winning, and it can take, and obviously the Celtics have a lot of talent, but it can take a long time to get that out.
09:05Look at what happened with the Red Sox.
09:06They were supposed to have one, two max reset years, and it ruined the culture for a long time.
09:13I find it hard to believe with the history that this team has.
09:16The Celtics are stronger culturally than the Red Sox.
09:17It's already established.
09:19But that culture is the reason that I don't think they'll go for it.
09:24So you can say it would be better.
09:26I'm not disagreeing with you.
09:28I just don't think they're going to do it.
09:29I don't think it's in their DNA.
09:30For better or worse, I don't think it's in their DNA.
