Speaker 1: So the topic of the day, maybe the week, probably
Speaker 1: the entire.
Speaker 2: Offseason, if we're honest, considering.
Speaker 1: How bad things are right now for the Celtics is
Speaker 1: just how bad of a job Joe Miszula has done
Speaker 1: coaching the Boston Celtics in the postseason?
Speaker 2: How bad is it?
Speaker 1: The Athletic has three articles written on it, like, aren't these.
Speaker 2: Writers checking in with each other?
Speaker 1: Three articles on Joe Mizzoula being a dumpster fire in
Speaker 1: the postseason as a coach. You got Bill Simmons devoting
Speaker 1: many numbers of podcasts hours to it. Twitter is a
Speaker 1: is just an absolute mess in the comment section on
Speaker 1: how Spoe is absolutely out coaching Joe Missoula.
Speaker 2: Here, though, is what nobody is talking about.
Speaker 1: Were witnessing in this Eastern Conference finals is to me
Speaker 1: the greatest NBA science experiment in the history of the league. So, okay,
Speaker 1: last year, right, emay Udoka takes over a Celtics team
Speaker 1: and it only takes him about a half a season
Speaker 1: to completely change the culture there. As we know, emay
Speaker 1: Udoka was bearing these kids in the media saying, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: they're soft, they're not passing the ball. It was a
Speaker 1: mess and all of a sudden things clicked in the
Speaker 1: postseason to the point where they get to the finals
Speaker 1: and they lose a hard fought series to the Warriors. Now,
Speaker 1: you may not like the drop coverage that emay Udoka
Speaker 1: played on Steph Curry. Fine, fair, but I think we
Speaker 1: can all say that emay Udoka is an elite coach. Then,
Speaker 1: of course emai Udoka got quote unquote suspended for the season.
Speaker 1: Aka got fired for not being able to I don't know,
Speaker 1: just like keep it together yeather, and he had some
Speaker 1: sexual relations with one of the members of the Stack,
Speaker 1: and so that to me creates a perfect storm of
Speaker 1: circumstances we've never had in the history of the NBA.
Speaker 1: A head coach who gets fired after leading his team
Speaker 1: from five hundred to the brink of a championship. Yes,
Speaker 1: Brad Stevens took this team to the Eastern Conference semis
Speaker 1: multiple times, but let's be real. The Brad Stevens move
Speaker 1: to the GM position, it was because he was not
Speaker 1: ready and able to coach these men up. This wasn't
Speaker 1: Nick Nurse getting fired after four years after winning a CHIP.
Speaker 1: This was a coach everyone said was one of the
Speaker 1: best minds in basketball. Completely change the culture of Boston
Speaker 1: and he shockingly gets let go.
Speaker 2: He would have been the Boston head coach for a
Speaker 2: decade or more. And on top of that, the kicker
Speaker 2: is that the Celtics didn't change their roster. This was
Speaker 2: a team that they thought they were gonna run every
Speaker 2: everything back.
Speaker 1: They ended up actually getting better, getting the sixth man
Speaker 1: of the year in Malcolm Brogden.
Speaker 2: They added him to the roster.
Speaker 1: So this team, this Celtics team, has actually improved from
Speaker 1: last year, the one that we already know is good
Speaker 1: enough to win it all I already know is good
Speaker 1: enough to go to the finals.
Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden they get handed one.
Speaker 1: Of EM's assistants, not some random coach that comes in
Speaker 1: and has to take over a team that's already built
Speaker 1: a scheme and a system. No, thirty four year old
Speaker 1: Joe Mizula was there for the entire process under Ema Udoka.
Speaker 1: So now we get this beautiful opportunity to compare bad
Speaker 1: for Joe Miszula.
Speaker 2: Really, because we.
Speaker 1: Really have all of the same factors that are consistent
Speaker 1: except for the coach. We can compare how this team
Speaker 1: compares to last year's team because they're pretty much the same,
Speaker 1: and even better in our science experiment, they get to
Speaker 1: play the Miami Heat again, the team that they went
Speaker 1: toe to toe with in the playoffs last year, a
Speaker 1: team that is largely the same as it was last year,
Speaker 1: only slightly worse. They're missing Tyler Hero, They're missing Victor Oladipo.
Speaker 1: And by the way, Hero averaged twelve four and three
Speaker 1: against the Celtics in the games he played in the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference Finals, and the Heat won two of those.
Speaker 1: Ola Depot came in and averaged ten three and three
Speaker 1: in all seven games. So this is actually a beautiful
Speaker 1: perfect storm. The same two teams play against each other
Speaker 1: in two consecutive years, two consecutive Eastern Conference finals.
Speaker 2: By the way, and the only difference really.
Speaker 1: Boston changed coaches. And now the truth has come to
Speaker 1: light and the world is being debunked because there are
Speaker 1: for many years, people have said coaching doesn't matter in
Speaker 1: the NBA at all.
Speaker 2: It's a star driven league. Stars do star things.
Speaker 1: No, no, people. What we're seeing is the coaching matters
Speaker 1: a lot. Coaching matters on every level.
Speaker 2: We have never had.
Speaker 1: The ability to see how stark it would be if
Speaker 1: a brilliant coach left. When coaches get fired, they're usually
Speaker 1: not brilliant. They're usually not very good there. Usually you
Speaker 1: see their ceiling. Teams are bad, teams have failed, they've
Speaker 1: been disappointments. I don't think you go to the finals
Speaker 1: and you fire your coach right away. We've never seen,
Speaker 1: hardly ever seen an elite coach get fired like this
Speaker 1: at this particular point in the juncture of his head
Speaker 1: coaching career, one year in to his coaching head coaching.
Speaker 2: Career, and this is what happened.
Speaker 1: The only reason emy Udoka isn't the coach this year
Speaker 1: and for the next decade is because of the personal scandal, right,
Speaker 1: and I had nothing to do with.
Speaker 2: Coaching, so we know that.
Speaker 1: Also, emy Udoka was masterful along the way to the finals.
Speaker 2: Maybe you don't like what he did in.
Speaker 1: The finals, but his defense, how he managed the roster.
Speaker 1: The identity of the team was defense all year long,
Speaker 1: ball movement, getting out and pushing the pace. And now
Speaker 1: we get to see how the same team perform under
Speaker 1: another highly regarded assistant coach, an assistant like I said,
Speaker 1: who I should remind you worked under Ema Udoka. It
Speaker 1: means the great Boston NBA coaching experiment proves beyond a
Speaker 1: shadow of a doubt, how one man can change the
Speaker 1: fate of a team, and more importantly, how important a
Speaker 1: good coach is to a good team. Another thing that's
Speaker 1: becoming very evident. It is very easy for mediocre coaches
Speaker 1: to paper over their flaws in the regular season. Malcolm
Speaker 1: brog didn't discuss this, which we'll talk about in just
Speaker 1: a second, but Boston easily got to hide under the
Speaker 1: regular season guide because of Missoula's inability to adjust when
Speaker 1: they were playing Detroit and San Antonio and teams that
Speaker 1: weren't scheming and planning and preparing for them because either
Speaker 1: the gap and talent was so much greater or those
Speaker 1: good teams great teams were not.
Speaker 2: Really preparing for them.
Speaker 1: Even in the first and second rounds of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Boston wasn't exactly really getting tested, and yet they were
Speaker 1: still kind of not quite acing the exam. There were
Speaker 1: four shore signs that shit was already.
Speaker 2: Going off the rails.
Speaker 1: Lest we forget, winning two rounds in the NBA Playoffs
Speaker 1: gets you exactly halfway to the championship, you still have
Speaker 1: to beat good teams, Elite teams coached by elite coaches,
Speaker 1: and Joe Mazoo is very.
Speaker 2: Far from an elite coach. I think we know that, right.
Speaker 2: I think we kind of know that.
Speaker 1: He might be a good coach one day, he might
Speaker 1: be an elite coach another day. But asking him as
Speaker 1: a thirty four year old head coach with very little
Speaker 1: coaching experience and only two years experience in the NBA
Speaker 1: in total, that is a bridge, folks. This guy came
Speaker 1: from the main red clause. Okay, if you don't know
Speaker 1: what those words mean, like I understand if I said,
Speaker 1: what is she saying? This guy came from the main
Speaker 1: red clause. Yeah, that's where he came from.
Speaker 2: Maine. That's the Gen League team for the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: He came from the G League team.
Speaker 1: That's where he came from. Joe Missoula got his. It's
Speaker 1: basically Aaron Miles, my guy.
Speaker 2: Who I love.
Speaker 1: Aaron Miles assistant for the Boston Celtics. He has more
Speaker 1: coaching experience in the NBA than Joe Miszula, head coach
Speaker 1: of the G League Santa Cruz Warriors, and then an
Speaker 1: assistant for the Warriors in their title run, and then
Speaker 1: an assistant on the bench.
Speaker 2: For the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 1: So listen, I don't know what the deal is with
Speaker 1: Joe Missoula and why he's not very good, but I
Speaker 1: can say this, the adjustments aren't there, the rotations aren't there.
Speaker 1: He blames the team when he's the one at fault,
Speaker 1: and he blames himself when it's the team. He wasn't
Speaker 1: at fault for this team going down three zero in
Speaker 1: the third game. They didn't give the effort that they needed.
Speaker 2: He wasn't at fault for them laying down and staying down.
Speaker 1: The lack of effort was embarrassing. Tatum and Brown and
Speaker 1: Smart and the others. They they either need to be
Speaker 1: consistently motivated or if they aren't, they're not consistently giving
Speaker 1: their full effort. It feels very much like the Brad
Speaker 1: Stevens era, and Missoula didn't get to coach under Popovich
Speaker 1: like Imeu did. He was a college assistant who got
Speaker 1: plucked directly by Brad Stevens and then went to the
Speaker 1: G League and then went to the pros. So you
Speaker 1: could say, oh, Trista, where were you when Boston started
Speaker 1: out eighteen and four? Well, when Missoula won Coach of
Speaker 1: the month, both in November and December. I get that,
Speaker 1: but that was Eme's team. Missoula got, you know, like
Speaker 1: a good class. When they get a good substitute, they
Speaker 1: get a substitute teacher. Like the bad habits don't restart
Speaker 1: right away. Missoula got appointed on the eve of training camp.
Speaker 1: And second of all, the more that Joe Miszula put
Speaker 1: his stamp on this team, the less they started to win.
Speaker 1: And once he got thrown up against good coaches, the
Speaker 1: cracks could be seen. Quinn Snyder led a far less
Speaker 1: talented Hawks team to six games in the first round.
Speaker 1: The bullet was dodged in part because Trey Young played
Speaker 1: like buns in the first two games. Then Joe lucked
Speaker 1: out in the coaching against the Sixers with an injured
Speaker 1: Embiid and the only coach in the playoffs hey get
Speaker 1: out coach was Doc Rivers. And even still he didn't
Speaker 1: look great in this series against a very underman Heat team.
Speaker 1: Was cold water on him because Spolstra is just much better.
Speaker 1: He has conducted a masterclass, and Joel has only this
Speaker 1: to say for it.
Speaker 3: Joe, the biggest game of the season, a game you
Speaker 3: had to have, and you guys just looked completely lost
Speaker 3: after the first six minutes. What exactly happened out there?
Speaker 4: I just didn't have him ready to play.
Speaker 3: Within the last forty eight hours.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just I just didn't have them ready to play.
Speaker 4: I should have h whatever it was, whether it was
Speaker 4: the starting lineup or it was an adjustment, just I
Speaker 4: have to get them in a better place ready to play.
Speaker 4: That's not me.
Speaker 2: What does that mean? I just didn't have them ready
Speaker 2: to play? What goes in?
Speaker 1: See this is investor investigator Krick then like detective Crick.
Speaker 1: That comes out like what does that mean? What does
Speaker 1: it take to get a team ready to play? Like
Speaker 1: what did you not do this last forty eight hours
Speaker 1: that you've done in other forty eight hours? Like what
Speaker 1: do you think you'll do now moving forward to get
Speaker 1: them ready to play?
Speaker 2: What does that mean? It's a must win game.
Speaker 1: You're down two oh and both of those losses were
Speaker 1: at home.
Speaker 2: That never happens. And now let's be real.
Speaker 1: The Celtics are done and as they're about to exit
Speaker 1: the playoffs, players are spilling the tea like Malcolm Brogden,
Speaker 1: the tree shaker, Malcolm Brogen, exposing the flaws in the
Speaker 1: culture of the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: I am not shocked.
Speaker 3: I think in these playoffs overall, it's it's showing because
Speaker 3: we're playing a very disciplined, consistent, well coached team. But
Speaker 3: I think in the Atlanta series, I think in the
Speaker 3: Philly series, I think we got away with with things
Speaker 3: that now are are biten us. So you know that
Speaker 3: that's definitely troubling. I think it's I think it's mainly
Speaker 3: on the defensive end. You know, we haven't been consistently
Speaker 3: great defensively all year long, and that was the team's
Speaker 3: identity last year, and I think that slipped away from us.
Speaker 3: We've had spurts where we've been great defensively, but not consistently,
Speaker 3: and honestly, we've struggled in every series we've played, So
Speaker 3: you know, now we're playing a team that's playing, you know,
Speaker 3: as if they're the best team in the league, and.
Speaker 1: Pass we've struggled in every round we've played so far.
Speaker 1: Defense was the identity of this team last year and
Speaker 1: it is not the identity this year. These were all
Speaker 1: issues by the way that Joe and the team have
Speaker 1: denied in the postseason, and they've denied all year, but
Speaker 1: they were very evident to anyone who watched them play
Speaker 1: more than a game or two. Celtics insiders are now
Speaker 1: hinting at toxic issues in the locker room. What does
Speaker 1: that mean. I need to know what's happening there that's toxic.
Speaker 1: Back to the great NBA coaching experiment happening here in Boston.
Speaker 1: We just have never had the ability to quantify this before.
Speaker 1: This is the first time we've ever had the opportunity,
Speaker 1: and I think it's great because now all of the
Speaker 1: people who are out there on Twitter and on the
Speaker 1: social media saying that coaching doesn't matter and you can
Speaker 1: just plug and play Steven Silas in the mix and
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a championship team if it's composed of
Speaker 1: championship caliber players.
Speaker 2: That is false.
Speaker 1: They're playing the same team that they played last year
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference Finals. They have the same roster,
Speaker 1: and they're actually a little bit better, and they're playing
Speaker 1: a team that's actually worse. Tells you exactly what you
Speaker 1: need to know, was hard truths. Coaching matters a lot
Speaker 1: much more than people want to admit. In the regular
Speaker 1: season matters not at all. Teams that fight through adversity
Speaker 1: sometimes come out stronger in the postseason, like the heat.
Speaker 2: And also like I don't know Boston in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one twenty two when he may uk Doka was in charge.
Speaker 2: So good job, Joe Mizula.
Speaker 1: You're a very important part of history, and we'll see
Speaker 1: you the fuck later