00:00I am Rich Sturton Lee, Ken Laird, three-time Super Bowl champion Ted Johnson,
00:05and we are live in the Ford Clubhouse Fenway Studio,
00:08brought to you by your New England Ford dealers and employee pricing for all.
00:12You pay what we pay.
00:13Ford, the official vehicle of Major League Baseball and that dirty water.
00:17And that voice you heard right there, of course, was Bill Simmons
00:20and a very raspy Doc Rivers.
00:21Has he gotten, like, a lot more large marge over the years ago?
00:25He's got, his voice has gotten very low.
00:28You know, you put on some weight, the voice goes, it's a little lower.
00:31He's putting on some counters.
00:32You know, living hard, trying to keep up with Giannis, partying ways up there
00:35and showing up late for the plane.
00:37But in studio with us right now, down all the way at Fenway,
00:40is our own guy, top-tier Terp and Justin Terp,
00:43and he writes for WEI.com and oh, so much more.
00:47Terp, thank you for joining us, sir.
00:48My pleasure.
00:49Let me just start by saying this.
00:50I cannot wait for this thing to be over.
00:52What, really?
00:52I cannot wait for this just to be resolved.
00:54When we're getting reports of Miami or rival executives think Miami thinks this.
00:59We've lost the plot here.
01:01I'm ready for this thing to be resolved.
01:02But it's been a fun story to cover, right?
01:05I mean, just all the, I mean, a lot of speculation,
01:07but it's been kind of carried us through the summer, man.
01:09I mean, especially, like, right now when, like, other than the World Cup,
01:12like, what's the bigger talking point in sports right now?
01:14Oh, sure.
01:15To be honest.
01:15This is the biggest story in sports besides the World Cup right now.
01:18All right, I'm going to ask you,
01:19I'm going to start off with a two-part question.
01:21So I'm going to ask you one, and then I'm going to follow up with something.
01:23All right, first of all, Gary Washburn mentioned something the other day
01:26when he was talking about this story, and there was, I don't want to misquote him,
01:31but there was something in what he was saying that speculated that Brad Stevens
01:36could be trying to find a way to get Giannis to come to the Boston Celtics
01:40while at the same time keeping both Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown.
01:45Do you see that being doable, feasible in any kind of way, and if so, how?
01:51I don't, and I don't think it's feasible financially and also just from the team makeup-wise.
01:56So we have been talking about for years, like, oh, how do Tatum and Brown coexist
02:00and whether or not that's a fair conversation.
02:01I know people love to have it.
02:03I don't think that's a fair conversation.
02:04I think they've proven that they can coexist.
02:06But now you add Giannis in there?
02:08Okay, so now Jalen has to go from being a second-team All-NBA guy,
02:11finishing top six in MVP voting.
02:13Now you're the third option, and he's just going to be okay with that?
02:16Like, if there isn't a package out there that you do hold on to Jalen Brown,
02:20the Celtics would then have to go and flip him.
02:22So you think Jalen would be pissed if they brought in, if they tried to do that?
02:26Like, if Brad somehow pulled off the impossible and got Giannis in here,
02:29you honestly think that Jalen would be like, get me the F off this team?
02:33I think it would be pretty unfair to him to make him the third option.
02:35But that's like a big three.
02:37That's like a real big three, and that's a better chance for you to win a championship.
02:40You think that Jalen's that type of personality?
02:42I mean, if he's consistent with what he's been his entire career
02:45and talking about the sacrifice and being willing to do what's needed for the team,
02:49then it wouldn't be an issue.
02:50But if people are worried about his fit this year after the season that he had last year
02:54and kind of playing second fiddle per se,
02:57I'd imagine asking him to be the third guy.
02:59I just don't see that.
03:00You know what's crazy, though, is that he's not sacrificing
03:03and salary?
03:04That's right.
03:05Exactly.
03:06That's where I just get stuck with him is he's complaining that he doesn't get the love.
03:12But it's not reflected in what they pay him.
03:15He gets paid.
03:16He's getting paid when the highest paid players in the league.
03:18Right.
03:18He's on a supermax deal.
03:19Now, I just don't think it's feasible from a contract standpoint anyway.
03:23Well, then let me ask my follow-up question.
03:24Let me ask my follow-up question then.
03:26Yes.
03:26Because we are now all of a sudden, I said this on the air of the day,
03:29and then all of a sudden Jay Williams comes out with a report that seems to echo exactly what I
03:34was saying.
03:35One of the biggest stories of this New York Knicks team and their amazing run and just fairytale ending
03:41was that Jalen Brunson, the guy who saved the season for them, their MVP, took less money in order for
03:49them to put a good team around them
03:51for them to win a championship.
03:52And I said this on the air.
03:54I'm like, I guarantee you that might start something.
03:57Now, whether that is management saying, hey, you saw what Brunson did.
04:03If you take a little bit of a pay cut here, we can put these guys around you.
04:07We can put X, Y, and Z player, and maybe you can win a championship and put together a big
04:11three.
04:12Whether or not players are going to agree to that, I don't know.
04:15But do you see there being any kind of situation where maybe management can go to somebody like Jalen Brown
04:22or Jason Tatum
04:23and say, hey, if we kind of redo your contract, we can bring in Giannis and have ourselves a big
04:30three.
04:30Do you see that happening in any kind of way?
04:32I don't.
04:33But to that point, Carl Anthony Towns is the one player on the Knicks roster that is making max money.
04:38So that's why Jalen Brunson taking that $100 million pay cut allows them to pay OG Adinobi,
04:43allows them to pay Mikael Bridges.
04:44That's what allowed for this to happen.
04:46When you're looking at the Celtics, it's like three players with Tatum, White, and Brown
04:49are all command like 70% of the salary.
04:52It's really tough to build around a team like that.
04:55So that's kind of a newer thing now with the second apron restrictions and all the new CBA.
04:59That's where this has become a real thing.
05:01Yeah.
05:02But you're looking at it like teams might have to do that to extend your window because
05:05right now you can really only dip into it for like two years and then you're going to dip
05:08back out.
05:09That's just the prohibitive nature of the second apron.
05:12Wow.
05:12Do you think guys will start being judged on how much they want to win a championship
05:16based on how much they're willing to sacrifice in salary?
05:19Let me ask you this.
05:20Did you judge any of those quarterbacks when Tom Brady was taking a salary cut?
05:24Hell yeah, I did.
05:24Yep.
05:25Peyton Manning, selfish.
05:26Yep.
05:27I mean, I was brainwashed, but that's how I felt.
05:29I felt like, well, the Colts can't put, I mean, I, you know, I literally thought that
05:32the salary cap meant something back then.
05:34Okay.
05:34Let's just go back 20 years.
05:36Yeah.
05:36I thought we had the better player because he sacrificed for the team because he took
05:41less money from the market standpoint.
05:43So, yeah, I think to me that would add to your, your, your, your reputation.
05:48Yep.
05:49You know?
05:49And, and your, I just think your legacy would be just highlighted.
05:54If you were to me, Brunson, I love him because that's how he thought and he wouldn't
05:59want it.
06:00God, he, he deserves all the praise, right?
06:02That might be an extreme example, but like just the thought of building around two max
06:06money guys makes it really, really difficult to put a good surrounding cast around them.
06:10Now the Celtics are in a good position to do it because of the young players that they
06:13have right now.
06:14Like assuming all of them that we saw last year are as good as they were last year and
06:18they continue to take leaps because really none of them are making a ton of money.
06:21Like Cata really cheap money.
06:23Shireman Walsh, all the wings, Ugo, all of them are very cheap money.
06:27But when those guys do get expensive, you now have to hit on the draft again and you have
06:31to hit on these like low money, free agents.
06:33It doesn't seem sustainable.
06:35No, that's, it's just so very hard to build around teams when you have two super max guys.
06:40Now, let alone three, then it's impossible.
06:42Yeah.
06:42Like those two, three, we heard from Paul Pierce earlier in the show.
06:45Great clip where he's on your side.
06:46He doesn't want to trade Jalen, right?
06:47He wants to run it back.
06:48Keep it going.
06:49Is that your side by the way?
06:51You're, you're, you're, it depends on the package.
06:53Like obviously if you have the chance to get Giannis out to Takumbo and he is healthy and he wants
06:57to be here and he will be motivated, that's tough to turn down.
07:00Like the guy before this year was a top seven or finished first team, all NBA seven consecutive
07:06years and was MVP, MVP top four, all seven of those years.
07:09Like he is when healthy, one of the best players.
07:12I like hearing this is a different turf.
07:13I've heard you hear how the beat is shifting in a couple of weeks.
07:16All of a sudden they're making a case.
07:18How about that?
07:19Owners are speaking to him off the record.
07:21Scal last week when he came on with us, he was like, well, I do like him, you know,
07:24but I mean, this is a, like a generational player and that's not to take away from Jalen
07:28Brown, but one for one, like Giannis Antetokounmpo is a better player.
07:31And I mean, this is when healthy, sure.
07:34This is unbelievable.
07:35But the whole weeks ago we had you on, it was, it was a no brainer.
07:38You run it back.
07:39You, you slingshot it for two years down the road.
07:41I don't know how like realistic it was like, oh, no, no, no, no, it was only Ken Laird
07:46speculating.
07:47Nobody, nobody took that seriously.
07:49So just to be clear.
07:50So Terp, do you think if, if they, JB gets moved, Giannis comes in, they're a much better
07:56team with Giannis as it, uh, in JT, as opposed to JT and JB?
08:00I wouldn't say much better because the supporting cast still needs help.
08:03Like you still need to address things.
08:04And if you bring in Giannis, your center becomes a big problem because you really can't have
08:09Giannis and Kate on the floor together.
08:10It's just too compact in the paint.
08:12Their spacing's way off.
08:13Like if you get Giannis, you are then going to have to go and get a stretch, a stretch
08:17big, somebody that can space the floor as your center.
08:19You just can't run it with Keita with Giannis.
08:22You just, it's just the spacing's way off.
08:24So there are moves to come and maybe that's why the Celtics are looking at this is like,
08:29okay, if we can get Giannis in a package that doesn't involve Jalen, then you flip Jalen
08:33and go get your stretch big, which again, that feels like a lot, right?
08:37Cause you have to land Giannis.
08:38Then you have to find a team that's willing to take on Jalen, which I think obviously teams
08:41are going to like his trade value has never been higher, but I don't know.
08:44Like I, I see it both ways.
08:46It's like Giannis is that good where of course you have to look into this and the Celtics
08:50for years have been against trading the Jays and breaking that duo up.
08:53But when you have a player of Giannis's caliber out there, you got to consider it.
08:57This is mind blowing.
08:58I know.
08:59I like it.
09:00Now that he feels that this could be real.
09:01Now that Bill Simmons went out there and said, you know, set the Giannis alarm off.
09:04That's you're totally right.
09:05That's what it was.
09:06When Bill Simmons talks, the beat just starts to, oh, what did Bill Simmons say?
09:11I like it.
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