Lakers Far From Contention + Are The Warriors Stuck? Tatum To Return?

Hello, welcome to the collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, what you're doing on Tuesday afternoon. Doing a little bit earlier than normal because I'm getting on a flight to LA. And I believe there's so many stresses that you can not control when you travel. But one stress that you can control is how early you get to the airport. That's right. I said it. I'm an early airport guy joining us from New York City. It's Tim Bontos. Why don't you just did LA Brian? I was in LA 36 hours ago and I'm headed out. McMahon said come on out. And so here I go. Sounds alright. Hello everybody. Joining us from Los Angeles, where I'll hopefully be in that very hotel later tonight is band McMahon. Howdy partners. We're just fully agree with you on the early arrival of the airport. We got to check a bag on the two hours early guy. The best thing about being early is you can't be late. My our friend of the pod, our co-worker who's currently on paternity leave, all my own, was so he thinks it's a failure. If he's not walking onto the plane as they're closing the door. So I would say sprinting onto the plane as the plane is. If he's not, if if if there if he doesn't hear a final call while he's in the, the in the terminal, he thinks he's wasted time in his life. And then you got to like elbow and move stuff around and they overhead been like anyway. It's a bad, it's a bad policy doesn't care. All right. McMahon, you were at the Thunder Laker game on Monday night at crypto arena, crypto.com arena. The Lakers had one three games in a row. And you know, they were some feel that they were getting some traction. You know, they'd been changing up their defense recently. Their defense have been creeping into the, they really were like top 10 defense for like the last 10 games. JJ Reddick had really been rolling up his sleeves and, and putting in some zone defense, you know, really trying to figure out ways to change his personnel. Part of it may have been because Aiden's been missing time lately, but that's neither here nor there. He'd been playing Maxi Kleba. And it was like, wow, the Lakers, you know, because you know, one of the things about the Lakers is every conversation that we have about them. You know, it's like, I'm like, well, I can't take them seriously if they're ranked 25th in defense. But I had to acknowledge like they were getting better and I was talking to one of their coaches the other day and he was praising JJ. He's like, JJ has done some of his best coaching this last month, like, you know, and so now they get the thunder. They get the thunder at home without SGA and McMahon not only to the thunder win, although Jalen Williams did come back and had a good finish. And I'll hear about you from that. But after the game, LeBron James says, remember when I like went viral because I said the, the Celtics were a championship team and the Luca lead, the Luca lead Lakers were a maverick. The winners tunnel is there. The loser sonils that way. Yeah, well, I was a little bit triggered by the performance by your favorite Slovenian that night. Anyway, LeBron last night was like, you want to want to meet a compare us to them. That's a championship team right there and we're not McMahon. And Jackson Hays is now my favorite Slovenian, although didn't like the cheap, didn't like the cheap shot on G Wiz. No, but LeBron. Quick, it's a side because with so Jackson Hays was just completed the paper work or whatever to become a Slovenian. He can join the Slovenian national team for Luca, which I'd like to say is one of the smartest things Jackson Hays has ever done because I think he's just secretly signed a contract extension. I don't actually mean he signed it aggregators, but it's sort of, it's sort of, it's going to tie into Luca, believe it in that. Shout out to Bill Duffie, the agent he shares with Luke, who I'm sure pointed out to him, the potential benefits of that. Why is work on all parties? But here's LeBron's quote, and okay, I just read it. You want me to compare us to them? That's a championship team right there. We're not. We can't sustain energy enough for 48 minutes and they can. That's why they want a championship. Alright, a couple things. I wasn't in the lake as a lot of the moment to the thunderstorm side, but I was told LeBron was in a mood. You know, kind of grumpy, you know, he's an old guy. You know, there's, there's a lot going on, like a little bit grumpy. So consider that as the context, but what he said is a simple fact. Dude, the Lakers got bounced in the first round last year and probably are getting bounced in the first round this year. They're not close to a championship team and, okay, sweet, 10 games have improved defense. They're a bad defensive team. I was talking to somebody last night, somebody from another team who was in the arena. And he was like, you know, I like an art for them on offense, but I didn't really fit with them defensively. And I'm like, no, he fits right in with them defensively. And then he said, you know, what we need here is more one way players. Can anybody go get us more one way players? We at least use a shooter. At least he has a lights out shooter. He said the Lakers stars will probably love Kinar because he will space the floor. And when he's on the floor, they won't be targeting Luca or Austin Reed or Bronn. That number 10 goal is eye on it. But let's man, we all understand the Lakers are a roster remodeling around Luca and Austin Reed's away from being in the conversation of contenders. And I think part of LeBron's grumpiness, and this is obviously speculation on not inside his head, part of his grumpiness is probably the realization that he's been doing. And he's not going to be part of that. Like he's, it's very, I won't say it's not going to happen for certain, but it's very unlikely that he's back with the Lakers next season. And he's not going out in LA on his own terms. I mean, I like LeBron typically every step of the way. I don't think just for the record. I don't think anybody knows what's going to happen for next season. Okay. The man's making $51 million that got a drastically remodeled. Well, that I agree with. Well, he's not, he's not going to be making $51 million for the Lakers next season. That much is correct. I think the rest of it is up in the air. And listen, okay. But my point is none of it, none of it is on his terms for the first time in his 23 year career. I mean, that's been the case from the moment Anthony Davis was traded for Luca Dachach, which is why this has been an awkward calendar year. Right? That's been the story of the Lakers ever since the moment that trade was made when the Lakers were at the garden a year ago. And for the first time in his life, probably since he was eight or nine or 10 years old, it wasn't about LeBron James. It was about Luca Dachach and LeBron James was a secondary piece and it's been like that ever since. The only change I would give to what you said before McBen is a successful remodeling of the roster around Luca Dachach and Austin Rees. Because again, as I've said, several other times, and I think it bears repeating. The Lakers obviously have a ton of work to do to get to the level of these elite teams in the West. It's also very hard work. Like I know they're in LA and only have some cap space. I know they have a couple draft picks, but they need a lot of stuff. They need multiple high level two way wing players. Those are really hard to find. They need to get much better at center that takes real assets. There are several teams. We just saw what the Pacers paid for a Vita Zubats. We saw what, you know, we saw what the Wizards paid for Anthony Davis. Well, listen, they still took on the money and two first round picks. You could trade for Anthony Davis and have all the cap space going away if you want. There's a lot of teams around the league. Atlanta doesn't have a center. They're looking for a center. There's a lot of teams around the league going, how are we going to find a big to plug in and have a chance to be a really good team? The Lakers aren't the only one doing that. Now, obviously, they have Luca who's going to turn that guy into a production machine. But it isn't just as simple as, oh, hey, the Lakers are going to go into the summer. They got their cap space. They got some picks. They're going to remake this roster and they're going to immediately be right up there with the thunder and the spurs and the nuggets and these teams in the West. It's going to be a real challenge for them to pull off this fix. And it's for all the reasons LeBron said you watch them play the thunder even without guys. And it's just not, it's very obvious. They're a clear level or two below. So quick aside, we're talking about this summer and centers. One thing that there's been some chatter about in the league and the wake of the Utah Jazz move to trade for Jaron Jackson. So the Jaron Jackson makes $50 million next year. Lowry Markin is in the 40s. Walker Kester of restricted free agent. I don't know how much of the jazz going to be able to pay him. Listen, here's what I'll tell you that jazz have a number of mine. I think they are comfortable in the 25 million per range. And Walker Kester and his reps at CAA believe he is worth much, much more than that. Now some options have disappeared. But I'm just telling that that's going to be a potentially very tense and extended restricted free agency process. This is a conversation we'll have later. I would just say that restricted free agency sucks. But there's one narrow little lane on the far left lane of the highway. It's like the carpool lane. If you can just get into it if you have the right pass. Which is if you are deemed a getable restricted free agent. In other words, teams believe that your team cannot match. You can sometimes get way overpaid. And I would say that Peyton Watson is trying to get in that lane from Denver because of what Denver has to pay to other people in their history of paying the tax. That might be if you're a Laker fan, you're thinking of what you're going to do with your salary cap space. That's a guy. And I would just say maybe the jazz will go out there and say we're matching all offers from Walker Kester. But if you're spending $90 million in their two front-core players, even if you've got cap space, you can only go so far with what you're going to be able to do for a while. So I would I would put Walker in that list as well. Also speaking of the jazz and Jaron Jackson, I'm not defending Rich Paul as an agent. I'm defending Rich Paul as a podcaster. I would just say one. He said months ago the Lakers were not a championship team. And he was cracked for that. And now we have LeBron saying the same thing. I thought he was right then. And I think LeBron is right now. The other thing is that Rich Paul now granted this was probably in LeBron's interest more than anything. But Rich Paul said the Lakers should have gotten trade for Jaron Jackson. And that would rebalance their roster. I know that they were never going to trade Austin Reeves. So I'm not I mean, that's pretty much what Rich Paul said. And the Lakers, they couldn't trade three first round picks. They couldn't trade for Jaron Jackson right now. I'm just saying Jaron Jackson was traded. And if you're talking about a team that has Jaron Jackson on it, the Lakers with Luca, whatever you're going to do with the rest of your cap space, that's another. That would have been an intriguing pairing. I guess I don't really like to fit. And I I guess if we're giving Rich credit for saying the Lakers center next year be better than Jaron Jackson. Well, Jaron Jackson is not a center. First of all, that's a complicated question for that reason. Like Jaron Jackson is does not rebound. And it wants to have the ball. That's fair. I think you're both right. Well, the big man the Lakers acquired next year be better than Jaron Jackson. He might be better fit than Jaron Jackson. Okay. When Wendy thinks he's right. He wants to cut us off as quickly as possible. I don't like that, Wendy. Let me just say, I don't think the issue was necessarily Rich's opinions on the podcast. If it was, you know, Paul Richard making those opinions as a podcaster. Maybe she calls off Paul Richard. Maybe she's gone. Maybe she's Monica on there. Hey, it's Paul Richard and Max Skellerman. It's a perfectly fine basketball point. I would even agree with him. You mentioned a more little mustache. Yeah, I would have put a mustache at a hat on. Do the Bobby Valentine glasses. There's just a little tiny, tiny conflict of interest given his day job. And there was with Jaron Jackson as well. Because of often Reeves was traded for Jaron Jackson. There were probably be quite a bit of space for LeBron on the salaries as well. We want to, you know, lose with the gratitude that I'm sure we're feeling from the wolves fans right after we question their team and the podcast that opened it came out of Monday. They slapped the hawks around, although a lot of people are doing that recently. Probably literally moments after we wrap that conversation about the Lakers. They will probably slap the spurs around on Monday night Tuesday night. Tuesday night. Sorry. And DeAndre, no, probably go for 20 and 10 more hoop collective podcast after this. However, the spurs are playing it back to back on Wednesday in Golden State, which will be on ESPN. The warriors, uh, Bontems are in a situation right now where they obviously didn't land Yostin and Kupo. They did land. Chris Alps for Zingus, which is interesting. And Steve Kerr said something about the acquisition that I made me think he said we've never had a player like that here. And I was like, I agree. But Porsinkus is out indefinitely. And Steph Curry is out indefinitely. In fact, moments before this podcast, he was replaced on the All Star lineup with Brandon Ingram. By the way, McMahon, I know you're not covering the All Star game. But we haven't had a verdict on Luca yet. And if Luca is unable to play in the All Star game, I think now that Alpair and Shingoon has replaced the honest Brandon Ingram has replaced Steph. We need a guard potentially for the international team. Dylan the villain. I think you should stick around for Dylan the villain. You should cancel your plans this weekend. I wrote about Dylan the villain earlier this year. We had a. No, it's I'm saying you've got to follow up. I don't think I'll be canceling any plans. I think the IT department. I have some reservations down the coast a little bit. We're going to stick with those. I'm sorry. Hey, not only that, but the last game the Lakers have before the All Star break is against the Mavericks. And I think Luca wants to play in the All Star game. I also think he enjoys lighting the Mavericks on fire every opportunity. So I'm not saying he will play if the hamstrings not right. It's not right. But, you know, let's just stay tuned. JJ Redic did say it was a mild hamstring injury. Anyway, Bontemps golden state. Now I don't know when steps coming back. I don't know when porzingus is coming back. They crossed the Rubicon into potentially offering Dreymond green and trades, although Mike Dunley the somewhat ridiculously denied that that was the case. And I like Mike a lot, but I still say it was somewhat ridiculous sleeping. You see me now. Sorry. Yes. Like, I'm like the bronze commercial. Do you hear me now? Yes. Excuse me. Excuse me. So where are the warriors at now? Bontemps with the hand that they're holding. For the listeners on the podcast of the podcast and not on the YouTube, speak. Man just disappeared and was a black screen. And I hope they don't edit it out. I want to stay a nice month. The rest of us are going to get edited out. Come on. That's where that would make we're at. That would make Jack. We're a full experience podcasting. Well, hey, don't be. Don't be eight on Jackson. As we said before, the best part of the pot is the set up beforehand. And the irony of this is we had a record record fast setup where there were no issues. Everybody was locked in and ready to go at the beginning back to the warriors. The warriors though are in a very interesting spot because they are clearly not good enough to compete this year. To go back to the, I don't think infamous is the right word, but the noteworthy Christmas Eve press conference that I went to in the bay ahead of their Christmas day game. What Steve Kerr said a bunch of interesting things about his future. One of the things he reiterated was last year when we got Jimmy Butler, we made this run in the back after the season. We went into the playoffs think we had a chance in our goal every year is to go into the playoffs thinking we're given staff a chance. This team doesn't have a chance like they know Jimmy Butler. Christa's porzingus is obviously a very talented player when he played for the hawks this year. I think he's played 17 or 18 games. They were very good. But the key the key thing there is he played 17 or 18 games. He couldn't get on the court. He had his first introductory session with the media and said he hopes to get on the court after the all star break. So look, even a porzingus gets on the court with no Jimmy Butler with this team as it is. There may be getting out of the play in and that's it. And frankly, there may be only getting out of the play in because of how frankly downtrodden the western conference playing picture is going to be like who are the other teams that are going to be in the play in. Clippers, Blazers. I mean, the clippers are probably going to be there, but. Quiet. It's hurt. Who knows where they're going to be and the teams below them are so clearly not trying to win that they might just get in by default. So I just don't I mean the worries could probably have staff sit out for two months come back on April 1st and be basically in the same spot there and now and then try to see if they could do some stuff in the playoffs. I think the real truth of it is that they're just in a holding pattern until the summertime and frankly, I thought the most interesting thing about that trade for porzingus while he is a good player is that the worries went from having trade ammunition in the summer in the form of expiring contracts and buddy healed and John thing Amiga to having money that goes off the books. Which is going to be hard for them to replace and it makes me wonder what the overall path is in golden state and are they potentially going to draw down their payroll little bit because really if you look at that trade it was Atlanta saying we're going to get $33 million in expiring money to use and trades this summer and extend the asset and the Warriors were extinguishing the asset frankly. Maybe you could resign porzingus on some cheap one year deal but you're not signing him to have and be a key part of your team going forward based on a little display yeah maybe kuminga is awesome for the hawks and they're like oh yeah not only picking up this option or maybe they'll say opt out and you know they'll resign them but there's a good chance kuminga could be on the move again this summer and I you know I think that's interesting because look the Warriors obviously did everything they could to try to get yana's before this deadline and didn't have. The fact of what you were just saying makes me wonder if Mike Dunley if you left those discussions based on okay we weren't able to get it done now when they were able to put the best package on the table. The probably not wouldn't have been able to this summer when my hand gets access to the other picks and based on okay the honest thing isn't happening that would be logical. Dunley the denying that either Dremond or Jimmy were involved in the discussions I don't know what he was doing there. This is one of these things that the lawyer might say is accurate but not true. So it's one of those things where hypothetically did you hear what I said aggregators hypothetically let's say the bucks and the Warriors talk and they said we've got four available first round picks and you could have young player X. I don't want to get aggregated and you know maybe they never said the words Dremond you could be traded or maybe they never said the words they did say the words to Dremond because he came out and said but they maybe they never said that you know maybe Mike Dunley be never said to John Horst we would include Dremond in the deal. What's the apocryphal NBA question was it an offer right this comes up all the time was it an offer or was it just a discussion or a talk or idea or whatever you think they're willing to give up Caminga. My thing is like I'm fine with Dunley the playing the game but he was like I would just say to any young general manager totally okay to hold your cards but I would say two things regarding the media. Here's my free advice that nobody asked but you know I've been around a little while don't lie just say you can't talk about it don't lie and don't be intellectually dishonest those are my two things you can say everybody will understand if you say we can't talk about that. The very simple answer to that question would have been look it's a fair question but I'm not going to get into trade discussions it's all you have to say because by the way our our new editor let's not give advice on how to avoid direct questions go on. That was before Duke got beat by North Carolina. Well and it's like you know our our now I said I said new but he's not new that new now Dane Beaver's he came over from the NFL and we're talking a couple of months about to go about the trade deadline he said Dane Beaver's is our boss. Bontems just zoom through information. I said he's our new editor. I said he's our editor. He said he did. Nope. I said our new editor. If you moment earlier. Our new editor. We didn't hear it keep going anyway. Anyway he came over from the NFL and he said one of the biggest things he's had to adjust to from doing the NFL trade deadline and NFL trade season compared to the NBA is in the NBA you can look at the teams and you basically could see what the trades are because you have it's like a jigsaw puzzle. And there's one of the other sides and with the Warriors in particular this trade could only literally be done two ways one with Jimmy Butler and what would drain my green and that was it. If you were interested in the honest you had to trade one of them like the end of story. So what are we doing right and they had a meeting with with Drain Mond to tell them about it. They didn't have a meeting with Jimmy. By the way, McMahon how'd you like Bontems just you know casually just given a little wink to the new boss. Oh, I mean, listen, Bontems is one of the elite butt kissers in the media world. I would not say that's true because there are other people that I will not mention who are. They're better than Bontems not on this podcast. After a company. Oh, sure. No. I will not. I was the one have a dinner with executives this week. That's all I'm going to say. We'll just leave it at lunch. Lunch lunch. Lunch. Um, I had dinner last night. Oh, yeah, exactly. It's an 80 room. Excuse me. Excuse me. Anyway, I will do what some donor man should do. I respect, I respect the question, but I just can't. After after you blurted out the answer, I like that. Um, yeah. So the question to me really is the warriors do own their pick this year. They were trying to trade it. They own it so much. Um, Steph is not right. Well, they are saying they should try to tank because where the hell are they taking it to? Well, I agree that they're stuck. They're stuck in the plan. Well, I'm saying though, like you're not rushing. Why are you rushing Steph back if you're stuck in the plan? Like I said before, they should, they could have Steph set out to April 1st. And I think they might be in ninth. Honestly, the only, the only reason I could give you that it would make sense for him to get back ASAPs. If he cares about all NBA, that's just, that's just an honest thing. And listen, you know, where is he? I was thinking about that today. Where, where is he for that? I don't fault guys for caring about all NBA like or MVP or defense player of the year. Like it's not a coincidence that when the llama came back when he did or Joker came back when he did, I assure you that Luke and Shay have their eyes on that. Yoke is just like questionable for all these games. He doesn't, when Yoke, when, when, when Yoke is questionable, he plays. Well, by the way, the Warriors, the Warriors play the Spurs Wednesday on our air. And then they play the Celtics on Thursday going into the break when Steph misses those games. He's already going to be at 17. Wait a minute. The Celtics start a West Coast trip right before the All Star break? That's what my, my app says they play in Boston or they play in Golden State on Thursday night. Well, I know that those Celtics often, oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't. It's the, it's after you're right. Okay. I'm sorry. I've made mistakes. So it's 16. No, thank you. Yes. I saw Wednesday Thursday and I, I checked out. Well, it is normal for the Celtics to start a West Coast trip. By the way, what a comeback by the Warriors. I'm sure the Grizzlies front office was really disappointed that they went scoreless for the last four plus minutes to lose the game. They led by 10. Well, I thought Bam at a bio's comments on Monday were, um, Bam said, this is paraphrase. I don't have it directly in front of me, but, uh, you know, the jazz beat the heat on Monday. And Bam said, we got to do better against these teams are trying to lose. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'd like to, when, when both teams have the same goal, you'd like to be able to accomplish it. By the way, I was at Net's Bulls Monday night in Brooklyn and, uh, Net's came away with a hard fought victory in that game. And, uh, the Bulls, whether they're trying to tank or not, are not going to win a lot of games. Thanks a couple of months. Well, the way to put those, the Bulls came away with the hard fought loss. Trust me. Well, the Bulls, uh, then that's, uh, you know, the nets are, are, uh, really worried about winning because they deactivate Michael Porter. That's, that's the tell for that. I mean, protecting his back and, well, then they've got the Pacers on Wednesday. They might be going on a winning streak into the, uh, into the All Star break. Rick Carlisle gave an update on a Vizza Zubak's ankle. Um, it's going to be a wild gentleman. Did you go back to Croatia? Yeah. I told him, just give him a turn of leave. It would be like, I agree. Like we had now, yeah, we're a family. We're a groundbreaking, groundbreaking decision. More advice, more free advice from the hoop collective. Yeah. More hoop collective podcast after this. AWS AI is how industry leaders are transforming how we learn, live, and solve tomorrow's challenges. Take Phillips. Using AI to turn millions of medical scans into answers faster. Hear that? That's the sound of car manufacturers using AI to shift production up a gear. And how gaming worlds level up as you play. Across industry's worldwide, AWS AI is how innovation happens every day. Jason Tatum on Monday, the entire main red clause, is that who they are? Bontoms? The main, uh, now the main Celtics, they used to be the main red clause. Okay. They're now the main Celtics. They had a road trip down, uh, they shipped off to Boston so that they could come to the R-Box Center and practice with Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum was quote unquote, sent to the G League. The truth is when these situations happen, the G League gets sent to the big boys. And I like in the release, you know, everyone's so, this is one like little bugaboo that I have. I think that the NBA team should, like, you know, when I was a junior reporter in Akron, Ohio, there was a double A team, the Cleveland Indians, the Guardians, now then the Indians, double A team was, was there. And every now and then you would have a player come through. They were aware, bro, we got your bobble head at the game. Remember? Of course. Oh, recently founded in a box. Back then they were the Akron arrows. Um, but like they would guys would go on rehab assignments down there, you know, and like one time I remember I went over and covered Brett Saberhagen. Made a start for the double A Red Sox affiliate that I think were the Trenton Thunder at the time. And he came and made up, you know, so it's not seen as, is demeaning to go, you know, to go play in the minors, you know. And it's not playing. It's practicing because NBA teams are able to really practice. I think they should, I think they should play. No, I agree. But I'm just saying like it's, it's, it's considered demeaning to be sent to the G league. So like when the Celtics put out their press release, they were like, he's only going for like 20 minutes and he will be immediately recalled after. Please don't think that Jason Tatum, you know, three time first team all NBA actually was sent down. We, we swear. Like I'm like, just act like a man. He's going to the minors to. Nobody's confused about Jason Tatum being demoted to be clear. This happens that I'm saying grow up. Major League baseball guys have gone to the minors to do rehab assignments for decades. Anyway, sorry. Well, also on a total aside, like to me, there's a lot of value in having the G league, like close geographically. Yes, teams of. I know Sioux Falls is a beautiful place at this time of the year. And I would definitely want to go on like an all-store week vacation there. But it's weird to me that the heats G league teams in Sioux Falls and has been for a long time. And it takes two flights to get there as everybody from Miami who's made the pilgrimage knows. I'm sorry, take three flights, two connections to get there in some cases, maybe not every case. But they love the relationship there. But yes, that's true. And by the way, I live in the upper Midwest and Bontemps will tell you I'm going to a basketball tournament this weekend with my son in Sioux City, Iowa. And for like a week, I was telling people, yeah, I'm going to Sioux Falls for a month, not a week a month. Oh, that's why I my whole thing was I thought you were going to Sioux Falls. No, I'm going to city. By the way, I figured that out two days ago. Oh, man. I was. I was. Two days ago, I said a two days from now when you drove Pat drove through. That's true. Keep going. That's true. That reminds me one time I was in this airport and this guy was, was, was devastated. He was all hectic because he was he was booked on a flight to Cedar Rapids and he needed to go to Grand Rapids. It's a problem. So about Jason Tatum. Yeah. So I got you to buy a way. Did you see that there was a guy who was booked on a flight to Japan and ended up in Nicaragua last week? Now that's something that that that's not see that either. I did not see that either. Anyway, I'm digressing all over the place. You really are. I have two. What's up from today. Phantom spoke. Jason. Jason got asked whether he is you know whether what this practice meant in terms of his returning to play. I'm still trying to figure it out. I still just going through the progressives of rehab. I'm not saying that I'm coming back or not. It's all about being a hundred percent healthy and going through the plan and he later said he's taking things step by step and day by day. Which is not exactly a surprise. Joe Missoula said it was great to see him take another step. He looked good. He's continuing in his progression Continuity consistent in his progression getting better that was all boring Not really shocking from the Celtics and it's all the theme of what this has been St. C. Had surgery 18 hours or 16 hours whatever the timeframe was after he got hurt here in New York at the hospital Susurgery weren't omali I think did the surgery very renowned foot doctor and ever since then His goal had been to play this year was all you kept hearing was he was gonna do everything could to play this year Obviously him being back in practice is a great sign practicing with the main Celtics is great I believe I don't know this for sure So it wasn't in Boston, but I think the fact that he spoke today means he at least took part in some part of Celtics practice today, which is also great It he's not gonna play against the bulls and the final game before the all stir break on Wednesday We'll see if he comes back when he comes back how much he could do if he does come back but as we keep have we've been saying for a month now the fact that the Celtics are in the top three in the east Without Tatum all year with the potential for him to come back with other than James Hardin Which Darrym Mori said wasn't a big deal none of the top six or seven teams in the east adding anybody of Consequence to their teams it gives the Celtics a shot to do something I certainly never thought they would and I don't think most other people did which is really have a legitimate chance to make a run through the east and You know the stadium could come back and be a solid contributor who could space the floor and Rebound and play some defense and hit threes even that would be a big boost for a team that's got a big hole at the power forward spot I get trying to temper expectations Completely understandable and you know I understand not wanting to make a commitment to hey I'm definitely coming back because he you know you got to see how his body feels how it responds all those kind of things but the fact the guy is You know playing five on five With two months remaining in the regular season And the Celtics are where they are in the standings. It's hard not to anticipate the Tatum is gonna come back at some point this season I remember when you remember when Paul George had that horrible injury and obviously a broken leg is a lot different than a Tornick killies so he broke his leg in August And the similar type of situation. You know that the Pacers were one of the top teams in the league at the time And there was this sort of same thing like you know When's Paul George coming back? When's Paul George coming back? Oh, he's practicing. You know when's he coming back? He did come back before the end of the season but I remember Frank Vogel who was a coach at the time let me come into our practice which is almost unheard of I've only maybe been to Maybe four three or four NBA practices in my 20 year career where I'd be able to see the practice not what they do at the end and Frank Vogel let me watch a shooter or a a Scrimmage that Paul George did on an off day in Cleveland And this was one like people were saying, you know like oh he might be coming back pretty soon And I watched him and he very very clearly was not ready and You know he did come back a few weeks later and like you know It was true to triumphant for him to get into that season But so I just wanted you know not that what's happening with Paul George happened with Jason Tatum But I will just say that just because the players practicing doesn't mean they're quote-unquote close However, I'm in agreement with you, McMahon that It is obviously a sign of progress which you know sometimes you hear Guys are close and the next thing you know that you don't hear from them for a month So the fact that we're getting progress signs It's it's relevant well and on the other side of it with a couple years ago We had jimal mary tears acl and he came back and was around the team and practicing I think you practice some and doing some stuff and didn't come back right that whole season And if you go way back Like sort of the beginning of the end of Derek Rose in Chicago was He tore his acl in 2012 and then That whole next year you'd go to bulls games and he'd be out there like shooting around before the game and like Going through full workouts on the court with all the fans there and he just never came back and played And I'm not again, I'm not saying that's what's going to happen here or not But it would not be the first time that a guy would ramp up and then decide you know what I've got a very long career had a me I got to make sure that I'm 100% right Maybe the team doesn't clear him maybe as a setback like there's a thousand things that could happen Yeah, I mean Michael Malone has has talked about this You know with us. I don't know if he's settled on TV. I think he's settled on TV You know when jimalmore was coming back, you know, he you know the controlled scrimmage Which is what Tatum has been doing He's like yeah jimal was doing controlled scrimmages and he still didn't play now was later in the season Um, but uh in the next year they won the championship So and and look Tatum might get out there and you know he could have these Control scrimmages for weeks and he might just be at a point where he doesn't feel like he can be himself like there's a difference between being physically able You know physically cleared and then being ready to perform You know at the at the level where you want to be or or even at the level where you feel like you can come in and and make a Significant positive impact and so you know, there's no certain he's here But this is a it is a significant step to go from even The stay ready games where it's a it's a bunch like coaches and player development guys To playing against Professional basketball players g-leaders are not while we're recording this there hasn't been any any Any discipline handed down by the league After the little a mcman you're good at this. What would you uh? How would you turn what happened in Charlotte? Oh a significant brew ha ha One of the most violent brew ha ha so we've had in recent NBA history. I mean this was You know, I mean dozens of punches thrown not just a couple like doesn't you see dozens doesn't feel strong No, there were dozens of punches dozens Doesn't he for or I didn't know it doesn't Connected but there were dozens of punches thrown. I think we're being a little dramatic The abonday through multiple punches. Yeah Okay, he threw a couple So did my no de Abate was was run around I was relaxed with dozens and then no dozens of punches Isaiah Stewart came in throwing haymakers There were there were at least four different flories of punches By the way shout out to friend of the pod Jason from Charlotte who you guys met last year in Akron one of my friends He uh long time hornet season ticket holder sits in like the fifth or sixth road in Spectrum center. I had to think about it for a second and first off he told me that uh That the energy in the arena last night was as strong as it's been in 10 years I can imagine No one see coming to town nine game winning streak second thing you told me is that the moose moose adia Bata had to be literally carried out of the arena And listen Let this be known that if you mess with the moose you get the horns Uh, they don't have horns have antlers. Okay. Thank you for your You're good Um So if you didn't see it, I'm sure you have by now, but uh base I I wasn't watching the game Um, so I don't know how intense the back and forth between de Abate and jalen duren was It had been a pretty physical game and you saw in the one huddle after they pulled people to side jalen duren was put up three fingers I think it was He'd been whacked three different times and they either hadn't called it or hadn't taken care of it So he decided to take care of it himself. So yeah, so jalen duren we will see what the suspension and now You know, there's gonna be multiple suspensions and multiple game suspensions. We'll see jalen duren starts it by basically headbutting Uh moose adia bata which just sort of indicated how much bigger jalen duren is than than the moose He had got it in him and then he mushed him Yes, and it was and duren's got large hands. So like it was like a full facial McMahon did you ever have you did you mush anybody in your days? I've you know It not since my teenage days, but there were some bushes back in the day. Okay. You were he were guilty of some bushes I did a lot of things that weren't Uh a very appropriate yes go on Off the boarding school just put it that way post mush de Abate lost it and came swinging Got bontemps got a little close to the sideline there as well. Well there are a couple points when this almost got really bad That was one of them on his a Stewart came out and squared up that had a chance to go really badly It had a chance it did Well, I meant if he had really I mean I say a Stewart's a huge dude if he had really connected it could have been bad So when the moose came after duren He swung at him a few times during backed up and he may get the lightest suspension is my guess because he could have escalated there And he's sort of at one point he roses are arms and then he just he dropped them Miles bridges Came so they got separated And then miles bridges, you know, I guess having the abate is back when then one after duren Miles bridges initially shoved him that was what started like he had butted him and then mushed him And Miles bridges is the one who shoved during the first place So then miles went around to then they got separated and miles bridges came around it took a swing at his end And that when miles bridges went for round two that's when beef stew said I've seen enough and came charging him like a bowl Off the bench That's an automatic I mean that's an that's an automatic game before you even start factoring in Then the swinging started well and I mean do you bought it was throwing some It was throwing me beef stew swinging start and the the announcer was like here comes beef stew It was like and people have done some edits, you know from a WWE stuff I mean honestly though like there is the WWE entertainment factor here I hated to see it because This is something that could really derail some seasons like the suspensions might be announced by the time this comes out I do believe the suspensions It's funny like duren you can argue started it then de Abate really got it rolling then miles bridges escalated it and then Beast stew took it to another level and I think the suspensions are gonna get longer as you know those guys jump in the mix That's the correct order of length to I would say one two three four Especially because if I say a Stewart's pretty extensive history at this point by the way I saw this stat did you guys hear some trivia and now to present today's trivia question the whiz of the quiz Brian Wind hoars So this was Isaiah Stewart's eighth ejection in his career We don't have complete ejection information. It only goes back to 1988 apparently with the SPN Yeah, who so beef stew has now eight ejections. That's the second most ejection mark is cousins Since second most for a piston oh for a piston. Yeah What picitin? Okay, what piston has more ejections than beef stew Same for the first guest to be Rashid Wallace. Okay, that's your final answers. That's not the answer. Do you want to make one more guess? You won't get it. It's just it's a stunning. It's just kind of a stunning one. He was a long time since 88 I will give you two hints. He was a very long time piston, but they did not draft him and he wanted championship with the pistons Well all their good billion be your time frame won a championship. That's the thing lamb beer may have had more But we don't have it since 88. Yeah, I'm gonna say it was Tashon Prince Okay, you're on the right path like man you want to have has has one more. Yes, I guess but that would have been a great one even though Ben You know, yeah, I was going between Tashon Prince of rip and how about I get according to SPN research You know, I'm not saying Richard rip Hamilton I was gonna get one of those two because I how you frame you would have been surprised. I would never have guessed that I do remember sometimes where he would take off that mask and it went flying. Yeah He could complain at the ref some So yes Detroit and Charlotte are two of the hottest teams in the league by eastern standards hot and that's why I hate this because Diabote is gonna sit some miles bridges who has significant history in terms of discipline with the league off-court But still he's going to sit for for a while the hornets had you know since Diabote has been in that lineup They've played as well as anybody in the east You know the pistons obviously are leading these and have have had a great season I hate the seasons getting interrupted like this. I will say this it does add a little bit of a Juicing sizzle to a potential Detroit Charlotte first round series my goodness sure does So we're looking forward to Cavs filly round one the Darrell Morible and Charlotte Detroit round one if you could sign me up for those series right now I could go down. This isn't just pie in this guy. Yeah. Yeah, be great Lock it in what do these names mean to you bontems Carter Bryant Jackson Hayes Kishad Johnson and Jace Richardson They mean that the dunk contest along with all star weekend should be Sunset it Do you make man you have a pick there between those four? No Can a can a seven footer win the dunk contest. I mean seven footers have one the dunk contest. Yeah. Yes They have a Howard do I Howard one but he's not seven foot. He wasn't a seven footer, but I mean Larry Nancy was a good six-loven at least It was Now I gotta tell you uh I look forward to a nice fountain six ten. I'll get I'll allow it The long the three-point contest long ago became the signature event of all star weekend and That's just the way it is. I will who you pick in that they should let the rest of it go Damn for the storyline you guys name with his torn Achilles not playing the season but going for a third Three-point Championship you guys know my favorite rookie non-cuper flag division is oh conk nipple you know who I'm picking all right We'll see these guys next week. We got some these guys are gonna take a little all-star break Thank God Uh And now we got some other folks coming up later this week on hip collective Thank you very much for watching and listening with us as always Thank you to our producers mark Devon and Jackson and thank you McManon Bontos Adios amigos