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EPISODE 10 - PATRIOTS SCHEDULE. WHEN DOES DRAKE MAYE START??
89 Plays1 year ago
also Celtics and Bruins! playoffs LFG.
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Transcript
Podcast Resumption & Patriots Schedule
00:00:01
Speaker
All right, what's going on, guys? Welcome back to the Savage Boston podcast. We are back with you again. It is May 16, and we're recording. And ironically, this is the first night off from playoff games in, I think, something like 10 days, 10 consecutive days or something. It's been an incredible run for
Drake May's Potential Play
00:00:21
Speaker
playoffs. But kind of before we jump into that and dissect the playoffs, I feel like we need to touch on the Patriots schedule release, which obviously happened
00:00:30
Speaker
Um, happened yesterday, yesterday night. So, uh, kind of wanted to touch on first and the biggest kind of talking point that people have obviously discussed today is, um, when does Drake may play?
00:00:44
Speaker
And I feel like that's, you know, everyone's got different opinions. My first kind of initial thoughts were one of five weeks. I thought either he could step in either to begin the season. He would come in week five at home against the Dolphins right after they played the 49ers. He could come in at home against the Jets after they get back from London, or he starts after the bye week.
Patriots Season Outlook
00:01:09
Speaker
It would be on the road, but at the Cardinals in week 15, or he sits the whole season.
00:01:13
Speaker
Those are my five kind of scenarios for Drake May starting and I know I'm just basing this off of just looking at the schedule. So kind of give me you guys thoughts initially, I guess on the schedule as a whole, but also when do you think Drake May will actually play? So Snooty, why don't you go ahead? So on the schedule as a whole, there's some issues. Week 14 by is less than ideal. Latest you can possibly have. I personally don't mind the lack of primetime games because
00:01:44
Speaker
I don't know, I'm old, I don't care. No buy after the London trip is tough. That's also usually a time when, you know, you go on an international trip, you saw it happen last year with Zappy, like you on international trip, you have a buy the next week.
00:01:58
Speaker
Sometimes if you're going to make a quarterback change, that's when it happens. I think the two most obvious scenarios are either May starts week one, if he beats out Percet, I don't think that's likely, but it's also non-zero chance. If he sets out the entire year, I don't think that's as likely either, unless Percet just balls out.
Patriots Performance Evaluation
00:02:21
Speaker
The third option would be after the bye week against Arizona. Arizona's defense isn't very good. I know it's on the road. I know you have two games against Buffalo, but that's also sandwiched between those two are giving us the chargers who I think will be as good. I know everyone loves Harbaugh and all that, but I don't think they're going to be a great team. Um, so it's not a, even with the two games in Buffalo or against Buffalo, I should say it's not a horrible stretch.
00:02:48
Speaker
The only other one, the only other point I could see them going would be you're not going to touch the jets. That defense is, that's, that's tough to go in against. Um, would either be at Tennessee week nine or at Chicago week 10. I know Chicago's a good team. Um, Tennessee's probably not, but it was, it wouldn't surprise me if Chicago was horrible. Um, they are playing a rookie quarterback. So, you know, it might not be that good.
00:03:16
Speaker
I don't think Jacksonville's going to be that good. If Jacksonville wasn't in London, then I'd say that would be a possibility. I also think Houston's going to take a step back. So there's that possibility. But I think starting after week eight, you missed both of those Jets games. You missed the San Francisco game.
00:03:36
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's good for, in terms of not being like, Hey, here's one of the best defenses in the league. Have fun.
Celtics Playoff Journey
00:03:42
Speaker
I think for certain the game I don't want him playing in is, is week four at San Francisco. I think that's, that's not good.
00:03:53
Speaker
like largely not good. I don't want him touching that game. I just think, you know, as far as unless you're just playing them the whole year and say, fuck it. Let's just let's tee out, like go Peyton Manning style back in whenever he got drafted like 99 or something or 98 and just play him every game no matter what and say if he's going to suck, he's going to suck.
00:04:11
Speaker
You know, and so that could be one strategy. But if, you know, if I think obviously they're going to wait till after after at least week four, if you're not going to start them to begin with, I kind of want them playing, you know, at home against Seattle. I think that would be a great game for him to play in. But obviously not going to start him and bench him. But because he wouldn't want a Thursday night football against the Jets would be just an absolute slop show. That'd be an awful game for him to play in.
00:04:39
Speaker
on Thursday night against a good defense in New Jersey there. So yeah, I'm not about that. So what do you think, Brett? Yeah, that being on top of it, it's a short week for a rookie quarterback would not be good. So when I look at the schedule, yeah, it's a rough start. I think it's going to be, we'll probably be like 0 and 6, 1 and 5 before that London game. London's always kind of a tricky one. I tend to agree with Snooty. I don't think the Jags are
00:05:08
Speaker
all that legit uh i went week nine i really think that's probably a good slot i think you know at tennessee i don't think tennessee is a very good team young team obviously trying to rebuild like us same thing goes with bears right after that you know yeah they got a lot of talent this offseason but i mean
00:05:29
Speaker
They also were able to do that because they sucked last year. I think that's a pretty good spot because the schedule gets weaker in my opinion in the second half. You throw the Colts in there, you throw the Cardinals in there.
00:05:42
Speaker
We go in our division a few more times. I think we can always try to steal one from Miami and maybe steal one from Buffalo. So I look at that and I say, OK, well, he could finish off the year and potentially go 500 or more. So I think week nine is probably the best spot. And then my second would be, yeah, week one, which is he basically is the clear
NBA Playoff Analysis
00:06:05
Speaker
favorite coming out of camp and.
00:06:08
Speaker
They're looking at it and saying, we got to just let this kid play and let them develop and throw them out there and make it happen. The only thing I have concerns with there is we are playing some really tough defenses. And I'm very concerned about our offensive line. I've talked about this before. And that's probably where I would err on the side of caution, not wanting to put the young quarterback out there so early. But if I had to choose, I'd say week nine would be
00:06:36
Speaker
My number one choice, week one will be my second choice. Yeah, it's interesting about week one. It's almost like I wish we could play him weeks one and two. I would absolutely play him or at least try to week one against the Bengals. I think that the
Bruins Playoff Performance
00:06:52
Speaker
Bengals are vulnerable. They didn't have Joe Burrow all year. I think they're an okay team. Let's see if Burrow
00:07:00
Speaker
can pick that team up, but I don't think they don't start hot. So I wouldn't mind starting him against the Bengals. Obviously he's going to play. Love the Seahawks at home. I just think the Seahawks and new coaching, not as strong would love that. It's really weeks three and four. I mean, again, the jets on the road and Thursday night, short week. I hate that. Hate that.
00:07:20
Speaker
awful and then San Francisco on the road I mean just bloodbath shoot me just you know just awful like I don't I don't want him near that game so obviously they got to realize that those games are common you know and then after that yeah you got some opportunities Miami at home I would definitely play him that game
00:07:41
Speaker
Houston at home. I'd play him, although I think Houston is pretty strong as a team. Um, you know, and then if you need be, you can play in London, play him at home against
Franchise Strategy Comparison
00:07:50
Speaker
the jets. Still tough. Then Tennessee bears, like, you know, it does get easier, but you know, looking at the schedule, I think I got them anywhere from five wins to
00:07:59
Speaker
at peak at best, probably 10 wins at like the, the, if they perform amazingly and he comes into balls out, I think that's like their absolute peak. Um, what's kind of their range of wins you guys see them at? I think probably six or seven is probably the most realistic. Um, I agree. Cincinnati I think is, is more winnable
Episode Conclusion & Teaser
00:08:22
Speaker
than you think. Um, so
00:08:26
Speaker
And again, it depends on how quickly the old line can settle down, but more to your point, the longer you wait, the more you give the old line a chance to settle in and kind of find their footing. Um, but like you got to figure you six games against the division, you're probably going to win one or two of those, um, at worst, right? So one or two of those, then I'd say you could put Cincinnati, uh, well, you could put Seattle to me, Houston, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Chicago.
00:08:54
Speaker
in the Arizona and chargers all kind of in like, uh, wouldn't surprise me if they beat any of those teams. Cincinnati somewhere. You know, above that probably the Rams too. And then, you know, so I guess I put Rams, maybe Bengals, San Francisco, like, yeah, no, you're not going to beat them. Like that's just, so it's not happening. Right. Unless, unless injuries or whatever happened, you know, Stafford goes down that type of thing. Who knows? But.
00:09:23
Speaker
You're not, you're probably not going to beat those teams. So I think there's realistically six or seven wins is probably where they end up, which is a good step. And if, if, if may plays and you still win six or seven games and he wins three of those, then, you know, you're in, you're in good shape. You know what I mean? You get to speak with, you know, you're building at this point, we don't want tanking anymore. Now you're trying to build something. So.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, you have to improve on last season. So did you see this stat? I just saw this today and then shot the tweet out is, the Patriots and the Panthers are the only two teams in the NFL that they are the underdogs in every single game they're in. Right now. Right now. So just digest that for a minute. Just sit with it.
00:10:12
Speaker
You know, this is like sit with it here in this moment and realize that this is rock bottom right now. Or actually rock bottom was before we drafted Drake May, but this is like a little bit still rock bottom here. You know, like this is where it has to begin to turn. And it's been really a four or five season decline here.
00:10:32
Speaker
You know, of like, especially as the talent pool shrunk. And it's just, it feels daunting. You know, I'm excited for Elliot Wolf, who has an opportunity to build the team back because it feels daunting. Like they're, they're so, um, they have such a lack of young talent in some areas, you know, especially on offense. It's just kind of, it's kind of wild. Like you hope the system they put together works and you hope Drake may is just, he just is who we want him to be. But.
00:11:00
Speaker
It's daunting, like this is ground up and they need to win, they need to win at least like seven games this year. If they win seven or eight games this year, we're doing something. You know what I mean? Like we're really building and I look for a huge off season trying to like do everything you can to improve this team for like a three year picture.
00:11:17
Speaker
But that's to me, it's like, you want to make the post season in two, three years. So it can be wild card, but that's what you want to make. You could win two games this year, but if Drake may plays well and he's showing that there's something to build on. But let's say the defense gets hurt, falls apart or, you know, the old lines of mass, but he's playing well or something like that. There's, you could win two games and still be happy with how, with the season. If he shows that he can be the guy, I said this, you probably have the number one overall pick if that happened.
00:11:46
Speaker
then that means you have, you can go get a tackle, you can go get a receiver, you can trade down, load up on picks, you know, whatever it is at that point. But like, if he shows that he can be the guy, then I don't care what the record is. Because that means that he's learning, if they're learning, then you have to learn how to not lose before you can win.
00:12:06
Speaker
So if they're learning, then that's fine. If he's playing well and growing and not being stunted, then that's fine. I don't really care what the record is. I just want them to build and improve, even if it's not the record.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we talked about this last year with Mac. And that was kind of the thought process we had at least as long as he's growing and whatnot, then it would be a success. And clearly he didn't. And then the season was a shit show. I look at the team. I'm thinking probably five wins. I think it's going to be a struggle just because there's just such a new offense. It's new offensive coordinator.
00:12:48
Speaker
new quarterbacks, new offensive rookie weapons, bringing in a new running back. We got some new offensive line there too. So it's just new. There's just a lot of new in the offense, which was good, right? We needed to go new. It's just
00:13:03
Speaker
New sometimes doesn't always translate to wins. So to Snooty's point, as long as we show growth in the offensive side of the ball and clearly in May, more importantly than anywhere else, then we can say, okay, we're building something and we have something to go off of.
00:13:20
Speaker
Because I think our defense is solid. I think our defense is probably top 10, still, level defense. People forget last year we lost Gonzalez, we lost Judon, and those are our two best defensive players. And then you got Barmore right behind there. And now you got all three of them coming back.
00:13:42
Speaker
You know, I think our defense is legit. So they'll keep us in games for the most part. I think it's our offense. When you got offense is all about being in sync defense. You can kind of get away with it with like a bunch of fresh new pieces. It's easier to pick up. It's a reactionary position offense. You just, everyone's got to be in sync and that's hard to do with a new offensive coordinator, rookie quarterback.
00:14:07
Speaker
you know, new left tackle, you got two new wide receivers, you know, a new third down back, like that's just a lot of new. That's just gonna be hard. So that's where I think five wins is probably where I think they'll go. Maybe five to seven. I don't see them ever go into 10. I don't know how you're getting to that point seven. No, I think that's like ceiling, like ceiling, you know. That's like shattering the ceiling. Yeah, that ceiling. I think floor is like,
00:14:35
Speaker
Three two is low man. And you know if three went into games like that's that's a floor That's that's bad. That's the basement scenario for two is Preset plays it's all brand new preset doesn't play very well So you're losing early, right? You gotta go straight up. Oh and six and then you play may and may plays well, but you're playing teams that are
00:15:03
Speaker
just better right like you so let's say the bears pan out what they hope to be um the Rams are what they're supposed to be the Dolphins are a playoff team let's say the Colts and Richardson go nuts let's say the Cardinals get Kyler Murray back and now they're in the playoffs and you've got two against Buffalo and who knows what happens with the Chargers and Harbaugh like so the scenario would be
00:15:23
Speaker
It's not a good schedule. No, the scenario would be you pick off a couple of games, but you don't play well early when there's when personally, I think the Cincinnati Seattle games and Houston Jacksonville a little bit more winnable. Let's say percent plays doesn't play well. Now you go to May. May plays well, but like it's just not enough and.
00:15:44
Speaker
You know, you, but you're showing like, that's what Brett was saying. Like you, you show signs of growth, show signs that like you're doing things, but you're not, you're not winning. Like there's something to build off of there. And then at that point you go, look, you know what? Like we played hard. We played well. We tried to play spoiler. We came close a bunch of times. We were in games. We just couldn't finish. We just couldn't do it. But now we have all that experience with all these young guys and new pieces that we have here.
00:16:10
Speaker
Now you use that high draft pick to go get either trade down, whatever it happens to be, go get other people to augment or supplement the team that you're building still. For the draft though, next year, obviously this year with the quarterback scenarios, we all anticipated that someone could potentially trade down, trade out. There could be a lot of currency moving around. You could get a ton of picks, whatever. It didn't end up happening, but that was always a possibility. Now next year,
00:16:37
Speaker
it's a different draft. Like there's no, unless someone comes out of nowhere or Ewers at Texas, right, if he goes off, and Snooty's a big Texas guy, if Ewers goes off, right, and they're like, whoa, clear cut favorite, number one, and you have that pick, well obviously you're gonna look to sell that and recoup a bunch of picks, right? But other than Ewers, maybe going off, like who are we looking at? Who's the kid from Georgia? You Beck, Carson Beck?
00:17:07
Speaker
You know, there's a few guys there. There's no one close to Caleb Williams and Drake may hype this season. I didn't even want to do this.
00:17:20
Speaker
Um, I was talking about the draft. That's where I didn't want to do this. Um, no, look, so I was just reading an article. It says like, always someone like, let's go straight into the draft. It's only, you know, it just happened. We'll go straight into draft analysis. Um, so like there's always someone who comes out of nowhere, right? Like Jayden Daniels did this year or like Zach Wilson did before. There's always someone who like comes out of nowhere.
00:17:46
Speaker
There's yours, who's, who's, you know, one of the guys, there's Beck, who's one of the guys. There's a three or four guys that they'll look at. One of them will probably fall off and be nothing. And then some will rise up and it is what it is. I mean, there's way too many permutations to even contemplate that next year, but unless Drake may just like completely, I don't even know what he'd have to do. Whatever Rosen did that one year, that's what he'd have to do to, in order to merit them being like, Hey, fuck it. You know what? We're going to take another quarterback.
00:18:16
Speaker
I mean that was they knew they must have known immediately with Josh Rosen that oh man this guy does not have it. I mean nothing like at all. Like I don't I can't believe they could have drafted him. You know it's shocking they drafted him because how do you possibly draft that dude and then draft another another number one. It's like
00:18:35
Speaker
That's such a weird management of assets. I give as much shit as you give them for taking him in the first place. I give them heaps of praise for having the balls to take another quarterback like that. Well, they recognized that he wasn't the guy. I mean, they recognized clearly that Josh Rosen and they were right. I mean, Josh Rosen couldn't even hack it. The practice squad guy, I think he's out of the league probably, or maybe he's still in it, but he can't play. So they were right to take Kyle Murray, but it's just like,
00:19:03
Speaker
I don't know. That was such a bizarre scenario. But I mean, we don't have to obviously go too hardcore into the draft. I just wanted to bring up the point that you might not have the currency you thought you'd have this year, right? If so, you might not get that three first rounders if you're like a top five pick next season, because you could be a top five pick. So next year, you'd have to just like
00:19:24
Speaker
Hammer a supreme left tackle or something like that because I still you know I'm not disappointed in the offseason like I'm happy about most things Very they secured the talent they had to but still you didn't improve a ton You know you really didn't like you improved by getting your guys back
00:19:43
Speaker
But we really expected them to make a huge splash in offense and actually really significantly improve the weapons. And I hope they've done that through the draft. They still have a ton of cap space. I don't know what they're doing with it, but they have a ton of money still. So here we are. Oh, here's the thing. This isn't a point that's often neglected by people is you roll over unused cap space for the next year.
00:20:10
Speaker
So hold on, but do you have to spend like 90% of your, your cap in like a three year aggregate and that, but let's say they, I mean, first of all, it's, I think it's 50 million, but it's still like 12 minutes for the mostly may for that's for the, uh, draft class, right?
00:20:28
Speaker
And then you use a bunch with guys you sign in the year who gets hurt, whatever. Let's say you end with, I'm making up a number, 20 million at the end of the year. You roll that over to next year, where maybe next year's free class is a little bit, maybe next year in a better position to be like, look, we got a young quarterback.
00:20:45
Speaker
You can actually talk yourself into spending more money on maybe there's better pieces available. Maybe you're more willing to trade for somebody. You can extend them and your picks aren't as premium as they were. It's really hard to trade a second round pick when you're picking 34th overall. Do you know how much cap they have right now? 52.
00:21:12
Speaker
The cap space they have right now in 2024 is 49 million. 49. But that doesn't count all the draft class yet. No. The cap space right now is 49 million. They're first. But if you go to total cap, which is all the players at the moment, they still have 21 million to spare.
00:21:37
Speaker
the only four teams are in the positive. After that, I mean, it goes as far as the New York Giants, these talk about bleak, they're negative $31 million total cap in total all cap space, which is just not good. I mean, just terribly not good. But it's like, it's the thing is like, if there's not someone that
00:21:57
Speaker
You that merit spending that money on then don't spend it just to spend it You know what I mean? They they took care We all were on here weeks ago clamoring for them to extend bar more if they did that We wanted to hug her and extend them. They did that they just extended Andrews Andrews today, right? Yeah, they're saying okay Like if there's no one outside of the building worth spending on let's at least lock up and spend them and spend on the core guys here Yeah, that's the right way to do it. It's smart
00:22:36
Speaker
Still a lot of work to be done, but they're in an okay position as far as right now. It's clearly at the time to build. To transition, just because I feel like we should touch on it, of course, even though me and Brett did a podcast last week, the audio didn't come through. But we obviously have to talk about, at least partially about the Celtics and the Bruins, right? We don't have to go crazy, because I know we can talk about the Patriots probably for the next
00:22:37
Speaker
It is.
00:23:01
Speaker
a while. But Celtics and Bruins for the Celtics just advanced the Eastern Conference Finals. I find it really interesting, the like national narrative about the Celtics. It's almost like
00:23:18
Speaker
The national media is just disappointed that they're in it. Do you know what I mean? What is the disdain for the Celtics, whether it's the organization or Tatum? He's not flashy enough. What is it? Why does it feel like the national media hates the Celtics?
00:23:36
Speaker
Well, I don't think they hate them necessarily, but I definitely think they have a level of expectation on them that it's just really unrealistic. What kind of drives me crazy is
00:23:52
Speaker
I mean, yeah, watching the games, they do get a little frustrating at times. Like you take, you take last night's game playing against Cleveland when they don't have Mitchell, they don't have Lavert. Obviously they don't have Alan. They haven't had him the whole series and you know, it's pretty close to the fourth quarter. But in reality, like I, that game was never in doubt. I, I knew it.
00:24:16
Speaker
Cleveland knew it Boston knew it right everyone knew it like there's no no way that game was gonna get lost but they just kind of dinked around for a little bit and then they ended up winning the game by 15 and They were never really a threat, you know But what gets frustrating is that sometimes I feel like there's just lack of movement and on the offensive side and on defense It's just lack of effort defending the three-pointers that it just kind of gets a little annoying to watch because you just know that they can do that but I also
00:24:46
Speaker
understand the fact that they were like, this was not a competition. They knew it wasn't going to be a competition going in. And they beat them fairly handedly. And what I think is unfair is the fact that it's like, well, then you've got other teams out there, like Denver blowing two games at home to lead off their series against Minnesota. And no one gives them crap. And now all of a sudden you've got OK Sue, who's the number one seed.
00:25:14
Speaker
who is losing to Dallas. I feel like they think, hold on, I feel like they do think the Nuggets are a little boring too. You know what I mean? Only to kick back that a little bit. I feel like just Jokic, like who is it? Shaq on national TV when Jokic got his, what, his third MVP? Is this his third consecutive MVP? Like he got his third MVP and Shaq's like, hey, you know, I really thought it should have been SGA. Like in his face on an interview and Jokic's just like, you know, he's like, whatever.
00:25:44
Speaker
because he's Jokic, but I feel like the league really wants a different star. Tatum's too passive. Jokic is just too slow and meandering, and he's already won, despite him being what feels like a ridiculously great player. You don't win this many MVPs without being amazing.
00:26:07
Speaker
So I feel like they were dying for Anthony Edwards from Minnesota. They're like, oh, little Jordan, look at him. They're dying for that guy or SGA. They're dying for these players to be the face, the athletic kid. And for some reason, they're not satisfied by it being Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown. This is not enough for him. It's too boring.
00:26:29
Speaker
Well, I think it's also because they've been there, right? Like last night after the game, Draymond Green said it best where he was like, no one cares that the Celtics are back in the Eastern Conference Finals because everyone knew the Celtics would be back in the Eastern Conference Finals.
00:26:45
Speaker
So it is one of those things where they are definitely getting hyped up with the newer players Uh, so I could I could agree with you that on that. Yeah, they get a lot of hype for anthony edwards Sga gets a lot Brunson's bawling out down there in new york. Yeah, he's being great But I also and like micha was obviously great too. But then I say like yeah, but look what's around them offensively and then
00:27:11
Speaker
understand why Tatum may not be putting up 40 fucking points. If Tatum's out there putting up 40 points and going off like that, we either have to crush the team and put up 130 or we did not do a good enough job moving the ball.
00:27:29
Speaker
Right so I do I do concede the fact that like they are hyping up some of the newer teams but I just think what's unfair is when it comes to like the Celtics in general it's it's basically like people look at them and say like all they should never have lost
00:27:46
Speaker
two games in the playoffs thus far and they should be steamrolling teams every single time and going through but like it's the playoffs dude and there's there's let down games and I don't think there's ever been a team that's ever gone fucking 16 and all in the playoffs so like let's be real here they're gonna lose some ones the one that frustrated me the most was the absolute blow up in Cleveland we were down we lost I think by like 22 in game two like that one just annoyed the fuck out of me
00:28:16
Speaker
because we should never have like just been that far out of a game and that was probably the most infuriating but like by and large I know they're gonna win these games I know they're gonna win these series and whoever the hell we get in the next conference around whether it's New York or Indiana
00:28:33
Speaker
Like we're going to beat that team too. Like we're going to be in the finals, banked on it. It's just going to be depending on if we have Porzingis in the finals and what our matchup looks like, which is probably going to be Denver. We'll see how that looks. See, like you guys are kind of touching on it. And I think the reason they get so much criticism and it's not so much a desire for them to not be there. I think it's genuine criticism that
00:29:02
Speaker
You know, why did Denver not get it? Cause Denver's won a championship before. Cause we know that they can do it. Right. Um, you know, like they've been to the finals and they've, they've consistently in big moments choked it away and shown, come up small in the biggest moments in recent years. And I know some of that's cause Tatum and Brown were much, were younger or, you know, teams weren't as good, but that's whatever. But like until they've, they prove that they can do it. I don't see how you can have.
00:29:33
Speaker
any real confidence in their ability to show up in the big moment. So I think that's why when they have a letdown game, it's like, no, you can't do that because that's been your problem.
00:29:43
Speaker
for years now is that you have too many of those letdown games, right? So like when you do it, it's like, no, because that's like what you do. So yeah, I'm going to give you shit for it because you guys can't do that. That's supposed to be what you're working on to eliminate and to fix, right? Like you're a substantially better team. And we were texting about it before the game, but we said that like, Oh, this game should be over by the end of the first quarter. Yeah, it should, but it won't be.
00:30:07
Speaker
because it's the Celtics. And that's just- They let teams hang around, but like, you know that if they turn it up, like they could easily, you know, they could be up 25 in the first quarter and you're still capable of doing that. But I think dude, if they play the Knicks in Brunson, like they are clearly a better team than the Knicks.
00:30:26
Speaker
I mean, it's not even remotely close to a better team than the Knicks, but you know, the Knicks could bring them to like, to six games, like just on Bronson, like the Knicks remind me so perfectly of the Isaiah Thomas Celtics.
00:30:40
Speaker
where it had one guy who you didn't think could do it scoring like 45 a night. And that was a really fun Celtics team. I think they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals or something. I forget. And then they lost, of course. But it was like a flawed team. This Celtics team is not flawed.
00:31:00
Speaker
they're a good team, they're a solid team. I think clearly them versus the Nuggets would be a very good complete final of some solid teams. But we all think the Celtics could just blow it, unfortunately. It's something where you're like,
00:31:20
Speaker
You feel like, is there enough of that oomph in them that they're going to step up, make it happen, don't have that big letdown game, and finally burst through. And they just need to fucking do it. They need to do it. This is the year for it. Tatum, everyone, they need to step up, and it's time to win a championship, period.
00:31:40
Speaker
Yeah, I just think the criticisms come in early, right? It's one of those things where they're jumping on them for, like I said, losing the two games and then criticizing them for how they lost and where that goes. But all that being said, they are still winning by the largest margin in NBA history. They've blown out teams by more than 20 freaking points. And New York, there's not a chance in hell
00:32:10
Speaker
Brunson and the Knicks are gonna bring it to six not a chance in hell No, not a chance the reason the reason why he's scoring off like crazy is because they don't have anyone over there They're so banged up down there. Like it's not gonna happen the biggest the biggest weak spot we have right now is Al's putting in too many minutes and he's he's getting exploited. He got exploited in the Cleveland series obviously he had a big stat line last night, but like
00:32:40
Speaker
they would just switch on to him get him in a pick and roll and it was like good night so yeah if they want to let Brunson
00:32:48
Speaker
switch off and get on Al, yeah, we could go to sick games. But if Missoula decides to say, hey, let's not put the fucking 40-year-old guy out at the top of the key, and let's make sure we try to switch off or give him some help, then we'll be fine. Because we have enough defensive perimeter guards to be able to take him on that we shouldn't have to switch off like that or try and do it.
00:33:13
Speaker
and not put out out in an island like we did against Cleveland. So yeah, if we if not stupid like that, then sure. But I don't think we're going to be that stupid. I think when we do decide to lock ourselves in, we're good. And yeah, this this I've said this is the year I think it's the year I think they've responded more times than not this entire season. I think bringing a guy like Drew Holliday in who's just a consummate professional and has a championship is helping that.
00:33:42
Speaker
And then I think, you know, Tatum and Brown are battle tested. So they just know how to, they just know what it takes at this point. And that's why like, I just think it's just go out there, take care of business and move on to the next game. If it's not here, I don't know when it is. Cause like the Knicks play seven or eight guys in the rotate, like that's it. Like, and they have for this entire post-season, like they're going to get worn down. That's why the show beat up.
00:34:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's most teams though. Most playoffs... Yeah, most teams go to like a seven man or eight man rotation. Like they're like, they're the three big guys. They're playing like just stupid minutes and have been for a long time this postseason. They're getting beat up. They're getting run down, right? So if it's not this year when you've been
00:34:32
Speaker
I mean, I know you have everybody signed, but like holiday is going to be a year older, like who knows like health-wise. Porzingis is always a question mark. I know he's hurt right now, but it sounds like he could come back sometime in the Eastern Conference Finals. He should be able to. You'd like to see him get some time, even if it's not real minutes in the Eastern Conference Finals. So, you know, you don't need him to win the series, but if he can get some miniatures to get, you know, kind of back in the rhythm that way he's back for the NBA Finals, that would be ideal.
00:35:01
Speaker
But if it's not this year, I don't know when it's going to happen. I mean, ideally they would push them to, uh, uh, to seven games, right? Like when's their next matchup? Um, they don't play today. Next in Pacers. Yeah. Uh, I think they'll play tomorrow night. Tomorrow night.
00:35:19
Speaker
Then they're at the Pacers, right? They're at Indy tomorrow night and then you hope you push it to seven and you just have a really fatiguing beat up series where more minutes, more action. I think, again, Celtics are just, they're a superior team. No matter what, you look at the rosters, just pure talent. The other thing we've said is holding them back is potentially coaching.
00:35:47
Speaker
You know, if Missoula doesn't make adjustments, like he said, one game each series, both game two, where they just didn't make adjustments. And then they won both games on the road, which is really, really good. So the Celtics are capable of winning any game against any team they play. They have that level of talent.
00:36:04
Speaker
especially when Porzingis is back, you really want him back against if you get to the finals. I mean, you just need him for the finals. I think you can beat the Knicks without him, but you want him for the finals, especially, again, if you have to go against, let's say, Denver, you know, because you want him to be able to D up in the inside. You know, Jokic is a seven-footer. You know, he's dynamic. Like, you need a player like Porzingis against the Nuggets in my opinion.
00:36:32
Speaker
By the way, Nuggets are down by 18 against Minnesota right now. Yeah, Edwards is going off. I saw that. I mean, he is a great player. I think the league is dying for that. I think the NBA would love the storyline of Anthony Edwards beating the Celtics. That's what they want, that storyline so bad. That'd be fun to watch the refs in that series. Not saying it's rigged, just saying it'd be fun to see what happens.
00:36:58
Speaker
And of course before we wrap up, just the Bruins, sorry Bruins, you didn't get the feature on the pod tonight. This team, it's been a good playoff, a fun playoff. The Toronto series was really great. Game seven win. They don't have a ton of talent, like scoring the puck. Great D, great goalie. They can't score.
00:37:27
Speaker
Like it's hard to watch, you know, like they, they need a full, like it's weird. They're a top eight team. Obviously they need a full overhaul of talent on the offensive side. And, uh, you know, I'm clearly, I don't know the mechanics of building a hockey team. You know, that's not my expertise whatsoever, but you know, I can tell you that they need to score more than two goals a game, usually to win.
00:37:51
Speaker
So I don't know, that's my thoughts kind of on the Bruins. This was always a bridge year. They borrowed money from this year for last year, which last year was just such a fucking colossal failure. But this was always a bridge year. You got a whole bunch of guys on minimum deals or really low deals. You beat your rival in the first round. Always fun to see Toronto going home.
00:38:17
Speaker
You know, so you're kind of playing with house money at this point, but you'd like to see it go seven, at least push Florida as far as you can. I mean, they're such a fucking hateable team, but they're kinda where the Bruins are right now. I know they're going to have some cafes next year, but where they kind of sit right now is they're good enough to get in the playoffs. They're not really good enough to do much.
00:38:37
Speaker
not really built for the playoffs they're kind of like they're not a big tough team but they're not like an overly fast skilled team either they're kind of somewhere in the middle you're just not tough and they're not skilled yeah they're just kind of like hey i'm pretty good but not that good you know like that is like they don't aside from their goalies like what really scares you about the team
00:39:01
Speaker
Yeah, they need talent. They need talent on the offensive side. I mean, I don't know, they'll have cap space next year and we'll see who they sign again. That's for my Bruins guys on here. That's for Don Sweeney. I can tell you what the Patriots need for certain, but like for the Bruins, man, clearly it's hard to win games like that, right? It's hard to, you know, they've won one Stanley Cup title since 1972.
00:39:27
Speaker
You know, it's hard to win. It's hard to win, just like the Celtics have won one title since after 1986. That's a long time, one title, 1986, you know what I mean? So for the most storied franchise. So the salary cap age catches up to everybody, you know? And it's like, you know, if you're in baseball and you feel like, okay, we want to spend more than everyone else, then yeah, maybe you can win more championships, because that's what matters to you. Like the Dodgers want to win every year now.
00:39:56
Speaker
And the Red Sox clearly don't. They're not interested this year. Sorry. They're a 500 club, probably going to end up below 500. They're not interested. They're not interested in winning or building a winning team. And they would have been a lot better if people didn't get injured, but basically that's the only kind of sport we have right now that doesn't have that strict salary cap.
00:40:17
Speaker
So yeah, so I mean, obviously, you know, Bruins roster construction, I'll leave that to, uh, to the, to the big Bruins fans out there, but, um, but yeah, so I just will wrap it up here throughout 40 minutes and try to keep them not for us rambling for like an hour. Um, so yeah, we'll check back in next week and, uh, see where we're at playoff wise and you know, Hey, if the Bruins are still playing, then we'll really have something interesting to, to discuss. So, uh, we will catch you guys next time.
00:40:47
Speaker
Peace.