00:00LeBron James could land in Philly to play alongside Jalen Brown.
00:04Jason Tatum used to play alongside Brown.
00:07He spoke about the trade for the first time with Howard Bryant
00:10while promoting his new children's brook.
00:12We also heard from Jalen Brown at an event of his own.
00:18Take a listen.
00:20I mean, to be honest, it's weird.
00:22It's weird.
00:24You know, you can play on a team with a guy for nine years,
00:29while I was fortunate enough to go to the finals with twice
00:32and win a championship and push each other to be the players that we are today.
00:39You know, you just kind of feel like you're going to be on a team with somebody
00:42because that's all you know.
00:44And then it's just like one day to find out that there's no luck on your team anymore.
00:52And, you know, we feel those emotions and going into the facility
00:57and going into that for the teammates.
01:00And it's the likes you've been in the board with the facilities based on the different team.
01:05It's okay.
01:06You know, things happen.
01:07You know, but I love the city of Boston.
01:09I always have.
01:10I've been here for 10 years, 30 in my life.
01:14I'll be 30 in October.
01:16So Boston is home.
01:18You know, and no management or organization will take that away.
01:22No organization will take that away.
01:26And obviously, Brown honoring a commitment at a charity event in Boston.
01:32That's great stuff.
01:33So Tatum was able to speak.
01:35Brown was able to speak.
01:37I've been speaking about this.
01:39Sham Sharania, the aforementioned Shams, was talking to our friend,
01:44the aforementioned Stephen A. Smith on his Straight Shooter show yesterday.
01:48Sham said, you know, by the end, you know,
01:50these guys just did not have any off-court relationship.
01:54I think in the NBA, keeping duos together, very difficult.
01:59It's, there's ego involved.
02:02We could go throughout history on this.
02:04We've seen it countless times.
02:06It usually never ends where the two stars play together forever.
02:10Shaq and Kobe, Steph and Klay.
02:12You know, even if it's just age like it was with Steph and Klay or contractual,
02:17it usually never ends where everyone stays together forever.
02:21It's just the nature of the beast.
02:24Now, I think that Boston originally had no interest in breaking this up.
02:31I think that when they won a championship, and I remember saying this,
02:35when they won a championship, and that team, that Boston team, was so amazing.
02:41And remember, Tatum was unbelievable and climbed that mountain
02:44in the court of public opinion and his ranking on, you know, where he was,
02:48you know, in terms of basketball players, you know, in 2024.
02:52The MVP of the finals was Jalen Brown.
02:55He was the MVP, not Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown.
02:58But Brown became such a, at best, wild card.
03:04At worst, pain in the ass and a nuisance.
03:07And when he went on social media, didn't have something set up with Celtics PR or anything like that.
03:15He's on Twitch after they lost to Philly, and he says this is the worst.
03:19He said it's the best year of my life after it was the worst year of Jason Tatum's life.
03:24I mean, you can't say that.
03:27And that's why I kept saying, I mean, you know, GD's out of the bottle.
03:33Had to trade him.
03:34And the fact that they had to trade him, and they had to send him to Philly and sell low
03:39on him,
03:39that's the theater of the absurd.
03:40So I was right in terms of, and you listen to Tatum and Brown, and, you know,
03:47Brown puts it on the organization, and Tatum takes the high road, which you would expect.
03:51These guys didn't like each other.
03:53And I think Tatum felt wrong by Brown's comments at the end, and Brown has felt wrong by the organization,
04:01the coaching staff, Stephens, ownership, the fans, which, you know, they paid him a boatload of money.
04:07I think a lot of that was, you know, that blurred line between perception and reality.
04:14And now, and Jason Tatum's going to have to own this and wear this, everyone expects,
04:20I know I do, Jalen Brown to be more successful than Jason Tatum.
04:24Whether it's individual play, whether it's team, I think the Boston Celtics,
04:30I think Joe Mazzullo's a fabulous coach.
04:32Like, one of the, you know, four best coaches in the NBA.
04:35I thought Joe Mazzullo this past year, coach of the year.
04:39Like, he was the absolute best.
04:41Miss Johnson had a case.
04:42I thought JJ Reddick had a case.
04:44I thought Bickerstaff had a case.
04:45I thought the best coaching job was Joe Mazzullo.
04:48He is phenomenal.
04:49But I don't know what the Celtics are doing here.
04:52I mean, the roster stinks.
04:54The team is not very good.
04:56And Brown, who has proven he could win in a cauldron, a media market, a fan base like Boston,
05:05he goes to Philly?
05:07I mean, that's a phenomenal fit.
05:11You don't have to wonder aloud about, can he handle the big, bad Philly media?
05:15He's going to embrace it.
05:16He's going to be great.
05:17He's viewed as the savior.
05:18By the way, they still have Maxie and Embiid and Edgecombe and maybe LeBron James.
05:23So, the genie was always out of the bottle.
05:25He was gone the minute he went on Twitch after they lost to the first round.
05:29Never even got that Celtics next series.
05:31It was over with a capital O.
05:34We were light years ahead of the curve on that.
05:37You had a lot of smart people saying, oh, maybe they can figure it out.
05:40Have a nice dinner in a little Italy section of Boston.
05:44That was never going to be the case.
05:46It was done.
05:48But selling low?
05:50Selling them to Philly?
05:52Hated rival?
05:53That's, I still can't believe we're here with this as a topic for conversation.
