'Celtics Better Balanced With Porzingis' | Brian Scalabrine On The Smart/KP Trade

Of course, the big news from last night, and at first it was going to be a three-team trade with Boston, Washington, and the Clippers. I love that first part of the deal because I love the fact that Malcolm Brogdon was going to be out and he was going to go to the Clippers, which works out perfectly, right? Malcolm Brogdon on the Clippers, a guy that misses a ton of games playing on a team with a bunch of guys that always miss a ton of games. Ty Lue probably would have gotten up and said, that's it. I'm done. I'm out of this place. Well, he played well last year. He was the sixth man of the year and he played all the time. Slow your roll. He gets hurt all the time. He got hurt in the playoffs. And then it turns out Brogdon's not going to the Clippers. Instead, it's Marcus Smart going to the Memphis Grizzlies, a package that includes Danilo Gallinari and Tyus Jones going to the Washington Wizards. And then it's Christopher Zingas and a bunch of first round picks. So Boston, as part of the deal, Memphis is sending Boston its first round pick in tonight's draft, the 25th overall selection. And the Golden State Warriors' top four protected first round pick in 2024. The Celtics are sending the 35th pick in tonight's draft to Washington. The Celtics are also sending Gallinari and Mike Muscala to Washington as part of the deal. So poor Danilo Gallinari, a former Knick draft pick, never plays a game for the Celtics. Christopher Zingas, also a former Knicks first round pick, headed to Boston to hang out with Brian Scalabrini and to play with Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum. All right. So I should have took today off because Eddie Johnson definitely would have took today off by not having to discuss this, right? But here it is. So look, we just got done watching the Denver Nuggets win an NBA championship, and they had a nice balance between Jamal Murray and the load that he had to carry, as well as Nikola Jokic. So when the Celtics lined up last year, really guard heavy. Smart, Brogdon, White, Tatum, Brown. Really, you can dissect that however you want. They're all on-ball players. I would say Derek White is probably one of the better off-ball players. Marcus Smart wants the ball in his hands. All these guys want the ball in their hands. So now, moving forward, we know that Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the next two years, are going to sign for 55 to 65 million dollars a year. So there is some responsibility there when you're making that type of money. You can't just give possessions away to other guys. Derek White has obviously kind of excelled himself into a different playmaker as with the ball in his hands, as well as a guy who could play off those two guys. So I was pretty adamant about this when this happened. I thought the roster at the end of the year, when we ended up losing, had some redundancy. And I knew that, in my opinion, two of the three guys, and I didn't think Derek White was going to get moved. So I feel like two of the three guys were going to end up going. Marcus Smart is the first domino. My opinion would be that Malcolm Brogdon would be another domino. They would keep Derek White. They know they have this money. They put a little bit of money into their bigs. Remember, Al Horford, 12 million. I'm sorry, Al Horford, 10 million. Rob Williams, 12 million. So you could take the 36 million dollar contract at Porzingis. So now, their roster has a little bit better balance than what they were going into the season. So I have to admit, as good as Marcus Smart has been for the Celtics, I think the reason we went to the NBA Finals and turned our season around a year ago, it's because of Marcus Smart. I think the league has shifted a little bit. I think the salaries of those two guys are going to shift a little bit moving forward, and you've got to have more roster balance. I do approve of the move by the Celtics. Well, and you know, the one thing about Marcus Smart, who is 28 years old, and he is the kind of guy that he plays all out. He's always on the floor. I'm not saying he's in danger of any time of being out of the league, but there is a shelf life for guys that play all out like that. But you are going to be missing a lot with him gone. This is a guy that brings a defensive mindset. He acts like a leader out there. He's not afraid of the moment. He's a big-time defensive player, having been defensive player of the year. Porzingis is different. Listen, Porzingis gives you size. He could space the floor with his shooting. He's much bigger than Marcus Smart, but their games are completely different. Marcus Smart is a lunch pail, grimy. He's going to mix it up. He's like a fighter out there. He's like a wrestler. Porzingis isn't like that. You have to admit, they're going to be losing a little something when it comes to that with Marcus Smart. Yeah, but you already have a lot of guys on the perimeter. You need more help on the front line. Right now, I'm asking you, Al Horford's 37 going on 38. Robert Williams is hurt all the time. You can have all those guards, and at times, we talked about it, I'm sure, on the show. I've probably sensed my frustration maybe on the Celtic broadcast. I didn't like when we played five out. I think we needed more size. I think we need more shooting out there. I think we need a lot of those other things. Listen, you're not going to get a player, if Porzingis without giving something up. The question is not necessarily what he brings. The question is, is your roster better balanced, where you have guys that make plays and bigs that can defend and rebound, and guys that can stretch the floor? I think their roster is in a better position now, even though Marcus Smart, I agree with you. That's going to be Mr. Celtic. Marcus Smart's going to be a better Celtic than Christophe Porzingis. When I look at all this, you're at your roster, you needed to make a move because you had a logjam of wing players. At least now you have options for a different dynamic. But don't you also think, all right, so is Grant Williams going to be on the team next year? No, probably not now. Probably not now that. You're losing a lot of toughness, dude. Be careful with that. Okay, so Frank. Be careful. You're thinking about, okay, so we were an average defensive team this year. You're going to be worse this year. You just lost two of your better defensive players. Yeah, but you have size at the rim. So yeah, you're right. You're right. You're 100% right. Grant Williams, who had DNPs and was out of the rotation this year. And once again, if you have to make a decision, I know what you're doing. You're saying Smart or Brogdon. But what if I said to you, all right, you can play three of these guys, White, Brown, Tatum, Smart, Brogdon. Who are the three guys you'll go to? I'd go Brown, Tatum, and Smart. Over White? 100%. Oh, wow. I feel like we disagree on that. I think Derek White was amazing this year. And his defensive numbers, and he got second team all defense. Marcus Smart went from defensive player of the year to not on the all defensive team, first or second. Derek White made all defense this year. So I think he took a big drop off this year. I'm not saying, there could be a lot of reasons why. Maybe what you just talked about, like career longevity. Let's keep it real. Guys do start to think about that kind of stuff. If I keep diving on the floor, if I keep doing this, maybe I'm not going to be able to last. But I don't know if there's a person that follows the Celtics that thinks that Derek White isn't better for the Celtics than Marcus Smart. A couple of things now about Przingis. It's amazing. He's been in the league since the 2015-16 season. His rookie year with the Knicks, he played 72 games. The following year, he played 66. The following year, he was at 48. He got named to the All-Star team. Then he went up for a dunk. Giannis challenged him. Przingis blew out his knee. And that began all the troubles he was having. Obviously missed the following season. Was in Dallas the next year, 57 games. Played 43 the following year. 51 his first year in Dallas and Washington. And then last year, seemed to get it back a little bit. Played 65 games. Really had a good season for the Washington Wizards. Average 23 points per game, 8.4 rebounds. You'd like to see the rebounding numbers up a little bit, but he does play out on the perimeter. And we know this about the Boston Celtics. Danny Ainge loved Przingis five, six, seven years ago. There was talk on draft night of a deal. I think Danny Ainge was talking. I think Bill Jackson at the time, in fact, was still running the Knicks. And there was talk about a potential trade for Christaps Przingis. And now you have Brad Stevens there, who's done a pretty good job as the GM of the Boston Celtics. And now you look at that team. To your point, though, you could at times trot out a lineup of Robert Williams, Christaps Przingis, Jason Tatum, and Jalen Brown with Derek White. That's like an old school, big NBA team. With a seven foot three guy who could shoot the three. So you have some space as well. Przingis is a good fit for what the Celtics are trying to do. He really is. Al Horford has a little bit of the, I'm not going to say Tim Duncan, but those guys that just know how to win. Al Horford, since college winning back-to-back national championships, I think besides the year he was in Oklahoma City, I think he's made the playoffs every single year. He's been on great teams. So Przingis brings a different element, a spacing element. He's not Al Horford from the winning standpoint, but he does kind of emulate the stretch the defense out, give Tatum and Brown a ton of space to work. You have a lot of rim protection. Przingis, the year he got hurt with the Knicks, he was a great shot blocker at the rim. So there's that element of it. I think when people go to Washington, people like ignore how good they could be. Przingis had a great season this year. I don't think a lot of people realize how good he was. That whole thing about Przingis not being able to post up because his center of gravity was too high. That was a big thing in Dallas. It was not a thing last year with the Washington Wizards. He was really good. He was knocking down threes from deep. So he has that ability. The Celtics' problem was, what are they going to do about Al Horford and Robert Williams when it comes to the playoffs? Those guys just can't by themselves carry the load. I hated when we only had one of them in the game. I like to have two bigs in the game. I always thought the Celtics were better defensively when they had two bigs. Now Przingis kind of allows you to play Przingis on one side, Al Horford on the other. You get the length and the defense and the rebounding, but you also get the space and the shooting. I'm going to be another great Kristaps every day. Carmelo, he'll be pretty good though. There are three players this past season that average at least 20 points and 1.5 blocks per game. Joel Embiid, the MVP. Anthony Davis, a top 75 player, top 76 officially. And Kristaps Przingis. Pretty exclusive group. At least 20 points and at least a block and a half a game for Kristaps Przingis. And I think for Kristaps Przingis, who's a good guy, and the way that it ended in New York, he didn't handle it well. I thought the Knick organization, the way that they dragged the guy's name through the mud, that was disgraceful. But the guy, it wasn't working out in Dallas. I think he and Luka Doncic were clashing a little bit. His career was at a real low when he went to Washington, but what he did there was just played and worked and built himself back up. And when a team, listen, we joke around with Brian all the time about the Celtics and Brad Stevens. Brad Stevens knows what he's doing. The Boston Celtics aren't just making trades for the sake of making trades. You know, they really honestly believe that the guy could help. So to me, it kind of validates you a little bit if you're Kristaps Przingis that you get to end up on a team like the Boston Celtics. And here's another thing to remember too. Since the season ended, Denver's been making moves and we'll get into their, you know, with draft picks and looking to do things. They won the championship. You got Miami, which tried to get, which was involved in Bradley Beal, still will try to get Damian Lillard. You got the Phoenix Suns. They went out and got Bradley Beal. They got knocked out in the second round. Then you got the Boston Celtics who made it to game seven of the conference final. They just made a big move. Why is it that the teams that all make deep runs in the playoffs are constantly trying to make moves and everyone else says, we should stand pat. Let's see. Let's be patient. I'm not sure that's always the way to do it. When you have a roster like that, making tweaks to the roster is a lot easier than some of those other teams. One more thing right here from my guy, Neil, the stack guy, right? Tatum, Brown, and White on the floor together. They're net rating a plus 10. All right. Tatum and White on the floor together. They're with Jalen Brown on the bench. Net rating plus 10. All right. Brown and White. They're also going up against backups. Marcus Smart's always out there probably defending the other team. Well, if Tatum's out there, Brown's out there. Brown and White with Tatum on the bench, they're a net rating of plus nine. When Tatum and Brown are in the game and Derek White is not in the game, the Tatum and Brown combination that are about to make 60 something million dollars in the future was a minus one. White has a huge effect on Tatum and Brown. No matter what, and I did this last year because people were killing Smart and people wanted this and that. I kept going to the analytic numbers and saying, give me the numbers where I could justify me liking Marcus Smart and why he should be out there. All the numbers, no matter how you unfold it, the one number that was consistent is Derek White. Yeah. Yeah. All right. That's fair. Again, with the Boston Celtics, and this is what GMs do, coaches do. They're able to take a step back and always look at the big picture. When the game ended, game seven ended, we all know that Jalen Brown had a terrible game seven. Everyone's initial reaction is you got to get rid of Jalen Brown. You got to get rid of him. They always look at the bigger picture. A guy like Brad Stevens is looking at the team from, as you like to say, a 30,000 foot view and ultimately what could help them. You knew that there were going to be changes. I think if you asked a lot of people that night what's going to happen, a lot of people, oh, Jalen Brown's gone. They're definitely getting rid of him. Not the case. They made a major deal, but it's Marcus Smart, a guy that's been part of the foundation of the team. They traded a foundational player. It just wasn't Jalen Brown. That talent that Jalen Brown has, and listen, I have a bigger issue as anybody does with Jalen Brown in game seven. My God, learn to dribble a little bit. His dribble is terrible, but he's long. He's still young. He's been on a lot of big games. He was good in the NBA finals last year. That's for sure. Let's not forget about that. It was Tatum that struggled. Jalen Brown was good. It's just interesting that you knew there would be moves with the Boston Celtics. They weren't going to stand pat. You kind of hinted at it with some of the things that you were saying that you thought there was a chance, or maybe just your opinion was it looks like something needs to happen or could happen. That's exactly what we got last night. That's a major, major move for a team that was one win away from being back in the NBA finals. Now, I get that you hate the salary cap and all that stuff. I get it, but when you pay guys big money, you have to now give them the ball and make them make plays. If you remember, there's a lot of times that Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum just go down and just stand in the corner. Marcus Smart has the ball. Jalen Brown's making $25 million. It's one thing. You pay Jalen Brown $55 million. You've got to start moving your roster around and saying, with all this money, you have a bigger responsibility. That's just the way it goes. When you had all this redundancy on the wing, and you have two guys on the wing making that type of money. Remember, Smart's going to be making $20 million. Brogdon's going to be making $22 million. You have to make decisions. If there was no cap and tax and this and that, I'm sure everyone would stay on the Celtics. Sometimes, with the subtraction of Marcus Smart, the addition comes with Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum having more responsibility. Just let the record show. As we'd like to say in the family in Victoria I open the books. I introduced Brian many years ago to the Chris Stapps-Prazingis family. Now, you're in, dude. You're in. Frank, I sold you. You're in. The main man. The main man. The great Chris Stapps. Forget about writing a book about Charles Oakley. When are you going to write your book? About Chris Stapps-Prazingis? We could write a dual book of the back stories of the NBA. We could definitely do it. Every chapter is a new funny story. Come on. The Chris Stapps-Prazingis story, that would be a good story. I always told you the story. He came to the U.S. It was the day before the draft. His agent, Andy Miller, offered him up to us. Nobody had ever heard of the guy. He had played in Spain. He came to the SiriusXM NBA radio studios. We interviewed him. He was great. I did the first ever Chris Stapps-Prazingis interview in the U.S. I like to say it was like Ed Sullivan introducing the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan Theater. I was introducing the world to Chris Stapps-Prazingis. There you go. King in the castle. King in the castle. I'm going to be Borat, like Oprah did. You're going to have a daughter. I'm going to be Borat. The king of the castle. The king of the castle. The Latvian giant in town, baby. All right, let's do this. We got to step aside. We'll get back. We'll have more on this major significant trade between the Celtics, the Wizards, and of course the Memphis Grizzlies. Good move by them. They're not going to have John Morant to start the season. So you're replacing him with an all-star caliber type of player. Plus, he's a bit of an adult in the room. Yeah, but they got to give up Tyus Jones. Oh, that was the one that Minnesota, remember? When they started listing all the guys. What was it? Jimmy Butler, Carl Anthony Townsend, Tyus Jones. How did they win this game? But Tyus Jones is a good player, though. I like Tyus Jones a lot. He's a solid backup.