Category: Audio

CLAB 24: Assessing the top of the East from a Nets-Celtics perspective

From trading with Billy King to contemplating trading for James Harden, we cover the gamut of Nets-Celtics basketball.

The Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets are two franchises with unusually intertwined fates over the course of the last decade, and that entanglement hasn’t lessened since the infamous deal that set the Celtics up for a post-Banner 17 future back in 2013.

With former Celtic Kyrie Irving playing alongside superstar Kevin Durant, the balance of power between the clubs has shifted back in the other direction — but will the basketball gods continue to favor Williamsburg’s finest? With health a nagging issue for both teams in recent years and a potential James Harden trade perhaps tempting the Nets as much as the Celtics, the two teams just can’t seem to snap that funky connection.

To that end, we got together with Jac Manuel of Brooklyn Buzz and Nick Friar of our sister site Nets Wire to talk everything Nets-Celtics BUT the Christmas Day game — and we had plenty of things to say.

Join Cam Tabatabaie (Celtics Hub), Alex Goldberg (Off the Glass) and Justin Quinn (Celtics Wire) as we get our bearings on both teams for the 2020-21 season.

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CLAB 22: Talking Kemba’s knee, media week and All-Time All-Stars with John Karalis

This pod, we discuss just how concerning Kemba Walker’s knee is, talk Jaylen Brown’s off-court work, John’s new book and much, much more.

The Boston Celtics just wrapped up their media week, the annual event (usually just one day, under normal conditions) where the press gets a look at the team as it will look for the most part going into the coming season.

This year, things are considerably different than they’ve been in years past, and for good reason.

This is the first season where contention is not only on the plate but expected since the rebuild began more than a half-decade ago, and it’s happening in the midst of a global pandemic — both inflecting the event in their own important ways.

But it’s also the week we learned that starting point guard Kemba Walker will miss the first few weeks of the season or more as he builds up strength in and lets a stem cell injection help his often-balky knee.

Just how worried should we be?

We try to answer this very question with special guest John Karalis of Masslive and the “Locked on Celtics” podcast, who sticks around to tell us about his new book, “The Boston Celtics All-Time All-Stars – the best players at each position for the Cs“.

Join Alex Goldberg of Off the Glass and Justin Quinn of the Celtics Wire as they join John to talk all things media week, the newly-released 2020-21 schedule, and much more in this episode of Celtics Lab.

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CLAB 21: Taking stock of the new roster, and Boston’s TPE options

This episode, we take stock of the 2020-21 Celtics roster to date, and daydream about our ideal TPE targets for the Celtics.

The Gordon Hayward era of the Boston Celtics has officially come to a close, with the biggest traded-player exception (TPE) in NBA history going to the Celtics, and the Butler product to the Charlotte Hornets.

With that move comes several others to spruce up the roster, such as the signings of big man Tristan Thompson and point guard Jeff Teague, two new rookies in Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard, and some familiar faces coming back on new deals.

Join Cameron Tabatabaie of Celtics Hub, Alex Goldberg of Off the Glass and Justin Quinn of Celtics Wire as we get our bearings on the roster for the coming season.

And stay for the discussion of how Boston might choose to make use of its TPE, what limitations it has, and how we feel about former Celtics stepping into the ring or onto the team’s coaching staff with Nate Robinson and Evan Turner making their way back into Boston’s offseason news cycle.

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CLAB 20: Predicting Hayward’s plans and free agency preview with Jared Weiss

This pod, we talk with Jared Weiss of The Athletic about all the offseason possibilities and rumbles we can think of.

With free agency kicking off at 6pm Friday, November 20th and Gordon Hayward a free agent, we recruited The Athletic’s (and former Celtics Wire editor) Jared Weiss to help us sort through the unfolding chaos that is the Boston Celtics’ offseason.

With Celtics stalwarts Brad Wanamaker, Semi Ojeleye and Enes Kanter likely on the move, Vincent Poirier on his way to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters likely to stay with the team, incoming draft picks and incomplete trades to consider on top of Hayward’s critical situation, there’s a lot of things on the plate to digest.

Join Celtics Hub and Off the Glass’ Cam Tabatabaie and Justin Quinn as we talk with Weiss about all the most important free agency rumbles finding their way to our ears this week.

With trades and draft picks in we’ve got a good idea of what might be coming — and no matter how it goes, it’s sure to be a bumpy ride — so buckle up!

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CLAB 19: Remembering Tommy Heinsohn & highly subjective draft thoughts

A legend passes as we prepare for a pivotal Boston Celtics offseason, the Celtics Wire pays homage to past greatness while trying to get a bead on the future.

We originally planned to talk out irrational gut feelings or overconfidence in 2020 NBA draft prospects ahead of Wednesday’s big event, but a legend passed in the interim.

With franchise icon Tommy Heinsohn’s death arriving after a long absence from the team he never could stay far from, we instead chose to share our favorite memories of the Celtic giant.

We’re joined by Red’s Army writer and resident historian Mike Dynon, who regaled us with a window into his early fandom, watching the Hall-of-Fame player and coach move to the other side of the clipboard.

We did manage to squeeze in at least some of the draft talk we’d initially planned to focus on afterwards as well.

Join Off the Glass’ Alex Goldberg, Celtics Hub’s Cam Tabatabaie, Celtics Wire editor Justin Quinn and Celtics Lab’s Mark Allison as we work out our nagging suspicions about the NBA draft.

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CLAB 18 – How does a $132m projected tax impact the NBA, Celtics?

The Boston Celtics need to make the costliest moves of their journey back to contention at precisely the moment the league’s available cap space shrunk – how will this play out?

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) are reportedly on the cusp of a new agreement that will see a December 22nd start date to the 2020-21 season and a $132 million salary cap among several other pressing issues.

What will the potential impact of such a cap situation on the league and with the Celtics as they try to assemble a contender ahead of the Christmas week start?

Will they be able to afford keeping Gordon Hayward? Could the team one day have to say goodbye to Marcus Smart? How long could revenue shortfalls last, and what are ways they might be addressed?

Join Cam Tabatabaie, Alex Goldberg and Justin Quinn as they sit down with HoopsHype and USA TODAY Sports Wire’s in-house cap expert Yossi Gozlan as we try and divine the answers to these and several pressing questions for Boston and the NBA in this pod.

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CLAB 17: The longest season over, we look at the strangest draft

After the longest season in league history, we talk the 2020 draft with HoopsHype’s Bryan Kalbrosky from a Boston Celtics perspective at every pick and trade-up imaginable.

With the longest season in league history behind us, the Boston Celtics and rest of the NBA turn their attention to the 2020 draft, sure to be among the most unusual ever held as well.

With the pandemic hiatus changing how the combine works and our usual channels of gathering intelligence impinged upon in order to safeguard the health of a new cohort of prospects and league personnelle alike, getting a read on what players may end up where has never been a greater challenge.

Luckily for us at the Celtics Wire, we’ve got access to the team at Rookie Wire, and to that end we borrowed one of the main minds behind their 2020 draft coverage, Bryan Kalbrosky.

We break down the various draft strategies the Celtics might take, whether picking where they stand or trading up in a variety of scenarios, diving into a host of popular Boston pick projections — and some sleepers who might surprise.

This is one of the more informative pods out there on what the Celtics might be after, so be sure to check it out if the draft is a mystery — or a beacon.

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CLAB 16: After the longest season, where does Boston go from here?

After the longest season in NBA history, the Boston Celtics have a lot of tough choices ahead for 2020-21, and things to fix from 2019-20.

After the 2019-20 NBA season has finally come to a close, it’s time to get our bearings on what’s ahead for the Boston Celtics.

We take a quick look back at the Eastern Conference Finals, the 2020 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat and the Lakers winning the title, as well as a quick survey of the draft and trade options that will await the Celtics once they can begin making moves.

Once the NBA reveals when the actual start of free agency begins in December or so, that is.

We also take a look back to some of the Celtics who have left the team over the last few seasons to check in on how they’re doing as well.

Join the Celtics Wire’s Justin Quinn and Celtics Lab’s Topher Lane as they talk about the longest season in NBA history, as well as what might be ahead for the Celtics in this pod.

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CLAB 15: Previewing the Miami-Boston Eastern Conference Finals

Tune in as we break down what to expect from the series ahead, as well as a quick look back and around the rest of the NBA postseason.

The Boston Celtics survived the Toronto Raptors only to collide with the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Their third trip to this stage in four seasons, in this episode of the Celtics Lab podcast, we break down what we ought to be expecting from our Floridian foes in the Celtics’ quest to hang Banner 18.

Who guards who? Who wins the battle of the coaches? And how many wins will it take for the Celtics to advance? Will the Celtics advance?

Join Celtics Lab’s Topher Lane, Off the Glass’ Alex Goldberg, Celtics Hub’s Cam Tabatabaie and Celtics Wire’s Justin Quinn as they dive into the coming series in roundtable format while getting us up to speed on all the other playoff action.

And as always, if you like what you hear, please rate us five stars — and if you have a bone to pick with something, let us know in a comment on any social media platform with the hashtag #CLPOD.

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CLAB 14: Taking stock of the NBA restart post-strike with N. Jeremi Duru

After a historic wildcat strike sparked by the Milwaukee Bucks in response the shooting of Jacob Blake, what could come next for the NBA?

With the Boston Celtics and the NBA working their way through the impact of a historic wildcat strike sparked by the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a range of interconnected issues has surged to the fore in talk about the league, its Disney bubble restart, and the role of sport in race relations among many others.

Ahead of that Disney restart, Celtics Lab reached out to Professor N. Jeremi Duru, author of “Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL” and an expert on sports law and its intersection with race to talk the league’s negotiated commitment to racial justice.

In that conversation, we discussed the types of interventions the NBA could make as part of that agreement, and strategies players could use to hold the league to that commitment up to and including sch a strike.

Now that one has come to pass and the season appears to have weathered the accompanying storm — at least for the moment — we decided to reconvene to take stock of the momentous occasion, and what it could mean for the league going forward.

We hope you join hosts Cam Tabatabaie and Justin Quinn as they discuss this watershed moment with Professor Duru — and we hope you are doing as well as you can in these tumultuous times.

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