Tag: celtics lab

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 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 12: Examining the NBA’s racial justice plans with N. Jeremi Duru

In this episode of Celtics Lab, we talk with of American University’s Professor N. Jeremi Duru on the NBA’s racial justice commitment.

In this podcast, Celtics Lab hosts Cam Tabatabaie (Celtics Hub / Off the Glass) and Justin Quinn (Celtic Wire) speak with special guest Professor of Law N. Jeremi Duru of American University’s Washington College of Law.

The author of “Sports Law and Regulation: Cases and Materials”, “The Business of Sports Agents” and “Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL,” Professor Duru joins us to talk about the NBA’s commitment to racial justice in the Disney restart.

With players unhappy with the degree of control they have over pro-racial justice slogans to be printed on jerseys but also excited to have an expansive platform to address the injustice that sparked the issue in the first place, we examine the various ways the league plans to tackle racism.

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We talk everything from Black Lives Matter, anthem protests, and Len Bias to symbolic and structural anti-racism and general strikes, so be sure to bring a snorkel, because this episode goes DEEP.

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CLAB 11: The NBA is back and headed to the bubble – but should it be?

Join Cam Tabatabaie of Celtics Hub, Justin Quinn of Celtics Wire and Alex Goldberg of Off the Glass as we take as deep a dive as we feel comfortable on the ethics of reopening the NBA.

The NBA is back with actual games of the 2019-20 NBA season scheduled once again. Teams are gearing up to head to the Disney-hosted bubble taking place in Florida next week, and conversation is already starting to shift towards sports again.

But should it?

Join Cam Tabatabaie of Celtics Hub, Justin Quinn of Celtics Wire and Alex Goldberg of Off the Glass as we take as deep a dive as we feel comfortable on the ethics of reopening the NBA.

For those of you less prone to wax philosophical about such a serious issue, we do talk about the restart, schedule and playoffs as well.

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So listen to the podcast embedded above if you share our concerns about the not-small risk vs. the platform and revenue it provides — or skip the first half if you’d prefer to cut to the purely basketball-oriented analysis.

But we hope you prefer the former.

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Celtics Lab 10: When things fall apart – sports in times in crisis

Sports has long been an axis to build community around – but in a moment of social crisis like this, how has our NBA community been changed?

With several Boston Celtics taking to the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to dive into the most extraordinary moment we are witnessing in sports in a different way than usual.

In this episode of Celtics Lab, we talk about how we’re adapting to one of the more chaotic moments in US politics in decades — if not ever — with nationwide protests and a pandemic that have transformed our quotidian engagement with sports.

To that end, we spoke with anthropologists Frances Sutton and Dr. Jeff Cohen, Authors of “Why Are Sports Fans So Bereft Without Live Games?” to discuss these vital topics from an anthropological angle.

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While our initial intent was to discuss the ways sports create community, that community has been transforming a longstanding “stick-to-sports” narrative in important ways before our very eyes.

We do touch on how our lives have changed in the absence of sport, but not merely in the sense of missing a beloved form of entertainment.

Given the power of sports as an imagined community to crosscut social barriers otherwise insuperable, we are seeing a powerful moment in the actions of Jaylen Brown, Enes Kanter, Marcus Smart and others as they do precisely that.

We hope it helps amplify the struggle they are risking so much to support.

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Celtics Lab 009: Cap navigation in a pandemic, and the NBA’s going to Disney

With the Boston Celtics and NBA poised to return, we helped put together a roundtable to talk about the short-term future of the Celtics and several other teams in terms of everything from the cap in a pandemic to who will be contending in a restarted season and beyond.

With a real return to action for the Boston Celtics and rest of the NBA looking more likely than ever, it was time to fire up the Celtics Lab and talk about the team’s future this season and beyond.

In this episode, we host a special roundtable on the future of the cap in an uncertain moment of NBA history.

Organized and moderated by Chicago-area publicist Andrew Gretchko, we spoke with Early Bird Rights’ Jeff Siegel, SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell, Vik Chokshi, formerly of The Big Lead and Derek Spallone of Spallone Sports.

Topics include how the Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and several other teams around the league will be looking to manage cap and contention concerns.

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Justin Quinn and Cam Tabatabaie also get into the growing drumbeat of restarting the 2019-20 NBA season at Disney, Paul Pierce inserting himself into a variety of debates, put The Last Dance to bed — and more.

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Celtics Lab 8: How the pandemic is changing our consumption of sports

The coronavirus pandemic and the hiatus it’s forced on the NBA has changed the way we consume and produce sports content — but how?

Sick of H-O-R-S-E, into the history articles and podcasts, and confused about what the future of NBA and Boston Celtics basketball may hold?

You’re far from alone, so the Celtics Wire decided to take a closer look at the state of basketball media while we get up to speed on the latest happenings, few and far between they may be.

In this pod, we take a deep dive into how the coronavirus pandemic has changed our engagement with sports.

Whether from the perspective of fans, with history, interviews and well-intentioned if snooze-worthy live events, or from the perspective of content producers, we discuss what NBA basketball and Boston Celtics coverage looks like in the era of COVID-19, and what we can expect in the future.

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Join Off the Glass’ Justin Quinn and Cam Tabatabaie of Celtics Hub along with guest Nick Friar of the Nets Wire as we talk about the state of the sport, the news and more.

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Celtics Lab Podcast: COVID-19’s NBA impact and unsung rebuild heroes

In this episode, we discuss how the pandemic could affect the Boston Celtics and NBA’s future, and talk about unsung heroes from the last rebuild.

The Boston Celtics and NBA are looking at the most uncertainty in the short term as perhaps any time in the league’s history.

How could things change for the team and the wider NBA world? What are the potential impacts of a longer delay, or a complete cancelation?

In this episode of the Celtics Lab podcast, we break down the various ways the Celtics and NBA could see changes in the near term due to the coronavirus pandemic.

We also look back at some of the unsung heroes of Boston’s last rebuild, holding a draft for an imaginary 3-on-3 tournament in the style of the Big3.

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Join Celtics Lab’s Mark Allison, Double Clutch’s Justin Quinn and Celtics Hub’s Cam Tabatabaie as they get us caught up to all the news that’s broken since the last pod, and a little bit of weirdness to close things out.

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