- 10 minutes ago
WEEI host and reporter Mego joined the show to talk about the Celtics. Though Jayson Tatum is an MVP candidate, she makes the case for Paul George being the most important player on the team.
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00:00Apparently, you're a huge Marcus Smart fan, correct?
00:03Fan? It was like an addiction, wasn't it?
00:05What? You guys are making me sound like a creep.
00:07It was a cult.
00:08What?
00:09Marcus, Steph Diggs.
00:10He was Pritchard before Pritchard for you, no?
00:13I mean, they were on the team at the same time for a little while.
00:15Yeah, but wasn't he your number one?
00:17I really like Marcus Smart, and I think people don't talk enough about some of the stuff he did in
00:23the community when he was here with Boston Children's Hospital.
00:26Yeah.
00:27Very good guy.
00:27So, I was a big fan of him on the Celtics, and he's dealt with a lot of injuries since
00:32then.
00:34He's reunited with Ime Udoka, who is a coach that I think is really talented.
00:39It'll be interesting to see what that Houston team does, because they are stacked with talent, but they're in a
00:44very, very difficult conference.
00:46If you didn't see the end of that game, it was the dagger.
00:50I mean, essentially, the game had been won at that point, but Marcus Smart ends up burying two last-couple
00:56-minute threes.
00:57And then he just flips off the crowd, and he's in Houston, so I don't know why he was doing
01:03that.
01:03He later on said he was doing that to the Celtics bench because someone was jawing at him.
01:07But it just looked like, dude, I just won this game, and I wonder what kind of punishment he's going
01:12to get.
01:12But I almost like, I just like, that's like the coolest thing.
01:16Because I'm sure anyone who does that, when you've got a close game, especially against guys you used to play
01:21against, you're all talking trash, that's got to be something they've all dreamed of doing.
01:25But Marcus actually did it last night.
01:27Yeah, it's a good point that he was at home in Houston.
01:29Yeah, like, why are you doing that?
01:31Why are you doing that to us, man?
01:32We're buying your jersey.
01:34And then Kevin Durant afterwards was being a baby at his press conference, as he always is.
01:38I can't, I don't get, that guy's got everything.
01:40He's got a ring now, he's been one of the highest paid players in NBA history, he's great at his
01:47gig, and yet he is so sensitive.
01:50He's the guy who put, like, made up a bunch of fake accounts and started trolling people on Twitter.
01:55A bunch of burners.
01:56But some of his reported burner work is so good.
02:00Oh, it's good.
02:01I'm like, you should write professionally.
02:03I mean, he, if you are to believe that the accounts cited are his burners, he called Russell Westbrook a
02:12triple-double cocaine bearer.
02:14That is great work.
02:16Wow.
02:16That is great work as a creative individual.
02:19That is not too bad.
02:20But last night was a weird game because Paul George didn't play, and Jason Tatum got double-teamed a lot,
02:28and because of that, their stats were awful.
02:31As a matter of fact, they couldn't hit any open shots.
02:34I'm looking right here.
02:34They were a 12 for 42 from three last night, and Tatum, Derek White, Sam Hauser, and Peyton Pritchard went
02:42two for 22 from deep.
02:44Pritchard missed all seven of his shots.
02:46Is that going to be a problem when you're going to have a situation where Paul George is out?
02:50Because, I mean, even Mannix came on and said they need another, they need another, a guy who's a playmaker,
02:55like someone who can create his own shots.
02:57If he's out and everyone can double-team the guy right now in Jason Tatum, is that going to be
03:01a huge issue?
03:02I think it's worth discussing, yeah, because this is the question going back to the formation of the team, which
03:07was,
03:08is Paul George going to be enough of a secondary scoring option to compare the team as it was with
03:14Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum,
03:16like even before they added all the star power to really go for a championship?
03:19Paul George, I think, has exceeded a lot of people's expectations very early in the season.
03:25But the availability has always been the big question with him.
03:29So if he's healthy, then I don't think it's that big of an issue.
03:32If he's not healthy, then you're looking at it saying, is Derek White going to be more like the guy
03:37from 2023, 2024?
03:39Is Peyton Pritchard going to further develop into this role where some of the hot streak shooting that you're seeing
03:46is stuff that he can do a little bit more,
03:48I don't want to say consistently, because we've seen a lot of that, but just somebody who takes it up
03:54to another level in his game.
03:55Other than that, like, I don't really look at anybody else who is going to be a real creator that
04:01can open up and take over the offense when Jason Tatum is double-teamed.
04:05I thought, Ted, you had some good questions.
04:07I'd love you to ask Meggo just about the different offense, and you were talking about that.
04:11I don't want to speak for you, but it was good.
04:13So just the Celtics feel like their offense is a little different, right, this year than maybe in years past.
04:19They're taking a lot less threes.
04:22Way more shots, two-point shots.
04:25There are more shots in the paint.
04:28I was just wondering if you thought that, why do they change what they do offensively so drastically?
04:35Is it because they didn't think JB would fit in that role?
04:38Well, why wouldn't JB fit in that role?
04:40JB was asking for that forever.
04:41Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, and they're getting to the free-throw line more now than ever.
04:45It's like, that was JB's thing, so, like, why are they doing what I, he, to me, he'd be perfect
04:50for this new offense the Celtics are having.
04:52Well, wouldn't, like, the, I would think that the common sense would dictate, like, if Jalen Brown's not there to
04:57do it, then everybody else has to do a little bit of that, right?
04:59Like, everybody else has to step into that role a little bit.
05:02But on top of that, the getting to the line thing is so critical to me because Paul George, a
05:09little bit, Jason Tatum definitely can get to the line.
05:11Other than that, the other guys that we were just talking about, Peyton Richard, Derek White, coming into this season,
05:17they are not guys who get to the line consistently.
05:19And you can say, like, okay, you don't want guys to try to draw fouls or flop or anything like
05:24that.
05:25I get that.
05:26But you also don't want to have a disparity between you and the other team if you're in a physical
05:30game.
05:31All right.
05:31I want to ask you about something that happened in a different game last night.
05:34Okay.
05:35Something that has become very controversial.
05:36Oh, no.
05:37So, during the 76ers game, and yes, I am obsessed with the 76ers.
05:42I apologize.
05:43You are?
05:43Yes.
05:44You have time for this.
05:45Oh, yeah.
05:45I've got so much.
05:48It's in my algorithm now.
05:49I don't even subscribe to it, but every other thing is the Sixers.
05:52It's like, what is that thing that you always send me?
05:54It's the screw-ups, like the bad shots.
05:57What is the name of it?
05:58Brick Center.
05:59Brick Center.
05:59It's always Brick Center 76ers.
06:01Stiz is obsessed.
06:02Oh, I love it.
06:02If you miss it, Stiz sends it.
06:04Oh, yeah, that's right.
06:04J-B alley-oop.
06:06And, of course, it's a drink.
06:09But there was a ball that went into the crowd, and LeBron James went after it.
06:13And he ended up knocking into a guy, and the guy was sitting down in the front row,
06:16and he had just gotten a glass of wine from the concession stand.
06:20He was about to sit down, and LeBron James looks at the guy's wine,
06:24takes it out of his hand, takes a drink out of it,
06:27and hands it back and goes back into the game.
06:29Now, there's been a lot of people who have been saying that that's an awful thing.
06:34How dare you promote being a alcoholic?
06:35Who are these people?
06:36There's people who are doing that.
06:37Portnoy is having an absolute problem.
06:39Oh, my God.
06:39He had a life.
06:40There's people who are saying that.
06:42People care about this?
06:43I can't believe I'm going to say this, because I hate the guy.
06:47Say it.
06:47I thought it was awesome.
06:48Yes.
06:49I thought when LeBron did that, I was like,
06:51Can I ask you something?
06:51Dude, if that was any other player, you'd be going,
06:54that was one of the funniest things.
06:55The guy took the dude's wine and took a drink out of it and gave it back to him.
06:58Do you, in the year 2026, really hate LeBron?
07:02I do.
07:03I do.
07:03And I hate him for sports reasons.
07:05I feel ambivalent.
07:06I feel ambivalent.
07:07He's broken my heart as a Celtics fan so many times.
07:10He's the ultimate competitor.
07:12He's the ultimate pain in the ass.
07:14And he's a narcissist.
07:15And he's a wannabe Michael Jordan.
07:17And everything he does isn't as good as Michael Jordan.
07:19We grew up with Jordan.
07:20You were too young for that.
07:21So if you grew up with Jordan.
07:22I mean, I got the tail end of it.
07:23I was the Space Jam era.
07:25So it's like, Jordan had Space Jam.
07:27He's got Space Jam 2, which sucked.
07:29Yeah.
07:29He's got to do his own thing.
07:30Jordan had the, what was the name of his documentary?
07:33The Last Dance.
07:34The Last Dance.
07:36LeBron's got something he's filming right now.
07:39The Last Dance Part 2, but not as good.
07:41Is it the same director?
07:42Because that director is fantastic.
07:44Oh, yeah.
07:44He did a very good job.
07:46On top of that, if you've ever noticed, LeBron James has, every playoff is reading The Godfather.
07:51He's always on page one.
07:53He's never gotten past page one.
07:55Yes.
07:55Every time the camera's on.
07:57To be fair, have you ever tried to read that book?
07:58It's really done.
07:59I never, you know what, I love the crime books and stuff like that.
08:03I've never read The Godfather.
08:04Well, I tried.
08:05And I was like, this is, I did not need all this background information.
08:09I've already seen both movies.
08:10Yes.
08:10Not the third one.
08:11I don't need to see it.
08:12No, no.
08:13The third one actually gets a bad rap.
08:15It does.
08:15The third one is a very good movie.
08:18It just, it's compared to two of the greatest movies of all time.
08:20Is it?
08:21Yes.
08:21It is very good.
08:22I thought it was very good.
08:23It's just, and everyone always points out Martin Scorsese's daughter who was in it.
08:27No, no, no, no.
08:28Sofia Coppola.
08:29I'm sorry, Sofia Coppola.
08:30Not Martin Scorsese.
08:31I'm sorry.
08:31Coppola.
08:32His daughter.
08:33And she wasn't good, but she's in it for like five minutes.
08:36So people are like, throw away the whole movie because of that one thing.
08:40It's almost like they sent like a note.
08:42Rip on it because of this.
08:43No, no, no.
08:43It's a good movie.
08:44It's just not as good as the first two because those are classics.
08:48But I just thought that LeBron doing that was just fantastic.
08:50And I would be very, I would, I would, I would be lying if I came in here and I
08:55started ripping
08:55on him because I hate LeBron James, but that was great.
08:57Who would be the person who would do that and get automatically celebrated in the NBA?
09:01Like, I kind of feel like if Ant did that, everybody would be like, they would be falling
09:06over themselves.
09:06They'd be like, oh, can you believe this guy?
09:09Face of the league.
09:10Right.
09:11So true.
09:11But, but LeBron doing it, you know, everyone, not everyone, I've seen people getting upset
09:15about it and you know, whatever, they've got every right to do that.
09:17And I think some people are doing it tongue in cheek.
09:20But I thought that was great.
09:22If that would have been anyone from the Celtics, you would have laughed.
09:24If that was Mitchell Robinson, you would have laughed your ass off.
09:27Depends how he was playing.
09:28Can we pivot to that real quick?
09:29Sure.
09:29Mitchell Robinson, just your thoughts on him, Mago.
09:33I mean, he's, he's a minus, the Celtics are a minus 42 when he's on the court.
09:38Yeah.
09:38But think about the sample size we're talking about.
09:40The plus minus can be, can be helpful.
09:45Doesn't always paint the whole picture.
09:46If you ask Jalen Brown when he was here, I'm still hopeful that it's, that it's going
09:51to work out.
09:52He's been thrown 14 lobs and only scored on seven of them.
09:55It's still early.
09:56You got to work on the timing.
09:57You got to work on the timing.
09:58A small sample, Rich.
09:59I think he misses New York.
10:01I think he still wants to be in New York.
10:02Yeah.
10:03That's what I think.
10:04I don't, he skipped the ring ceremony though.
10:07If you don't think he would have been there for that or like made a big deal out of that.
10:09He seemed to not care about that.
10:10You can't go to the ring ceremony on a different team.
10:12Well, they didn't sign him.
10:13No, no, but I know.
10:14But he was like, he was asked about it.
10:15He was like, yeah, I don't really care.
10:16Give me.
10:17I think he's showing allegiance to his new franchise.
10:20Yeah, yeah.
10:20Okay.
10:21I do find it funny that, you know, we were talking a little bit about him off the air
10:26and because I read an interview where he said, you know, it takes me about 20, this is before
10:30the season started.
10:30I need about 20 games to kind of get my chemistry and to get things right.
10:34This was Mitchell Robinson.
10:35And I was telling Ted about this.
10:37And what did you say?
10:37I said, I wish I could have told Belichick, you know, it takes me about five games to
10:42get, you know, playing where I want to.
10:44So don't, don't, you know, ask me to take less money in my contract to reflect that,
10:49you know?
10:49Sure.
10:50With Mitchell Robinson to say, okay, I do believe he's going to be, end up being fine.
10:53At least I'm hoping he is.
10:55They need him.
10:55I think with Mitchell Robinson, like it does make me think about somebody like Jordan
10:59Walsh, where it's like, how many defensive specialists do you want on your team?
11:03Yeah.
11:03When you have Jason Tatum and then Paul George, then the big question is who else is getting
11:09into it that night?
11:10When you talk to Jordan Walsh next time, ask him about a samurai sword collection.
11:13Jordan Walsh is a, he's a great character.
11:15He's the best.
11:16He loves anime.
11:17One of the first things he did with his first paycheck was he bought a bunch of like fake
11:20samurai swords from his favorite anime show.