Bulls Blowout, Role Player Breakouts, and Roster Dreams Around Tatum’s Return

CCT-Feb162026 === Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of Celtic Chalk Talk. My name Steve Purciello. I'm your host and we talk about the Boston Celtics. In the past week me, I've been a lifelong Celtic fan, sister Bill Russell Days. Always rooted for 'em, always followed them. Now it's my pleasure to bring you some of my insights on the Celtics. This week last week really was really a, an insignificant week. They played the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Bulls are really a sad sack right now. They're in the tanking stage and they have a completely, almost new team trading all their former players. And guys are just trying to get accustomed to each other and play together and get to know each other. For the Celtics, it was an easy for the Celtics. It was an easy win. They were leading by 28. At one point, at the half they were winning big. They never looked back. Couple highlights in the game. Jar Jordan Walsh played, again a [00:01:00] very effective game. He had 16 points, but he also, defensively he's really an outstanding defender. He gives Boston something I'll talk more about in a few minutes. The call of Vukovich 19 and 11, another good game. He's becoming a factor and he really can help them, especially if Tatum comes back. The Bulls. You can't really go really determine much outta this game. The bulls have no rim protection. They're just not good. And they're trying to figure out a lot of guys like Anthony Simons, who's one of ours and I'll mention him in a few seconds, they're playing for a contract. And that doesn't mean you're going to have a very cohesive team playing. And the bulls didn't show much cohesion. Now I wanna mention as I mentioned, Anthony Simons and I wanna mention a few things. First of all, I thought Anthony Simons was a, a very good acquisition and a real Celtic, he could become a real Celtic. He plays hard likes the [00:02:00] winning part, which we didn't know about until. We've seen him, his teammates adored him. If you watched after the Bulls game, guys were crowding around him that, that practiced with him and knew him that were on Boston's team. So it told me something right there. And I really think Simon's, if all things being somewhat equal, will want to come back to the Celtics. And that's my next point. If you think about it, if the Celtics can go out now, they spent 27 million for Simon's. This year, and I think with the 27 million, with the way the cap would go up next year, if they could proportion that money towards Vukovich and Simon's, and I think VU would take a lot less like 10. And if Simon's would take 15 to 17, which I think is reasonable Boston would get both of them. Think about where they'd be with Jason Tatum. This is a dream or a hope, and I hope that Celtic management and I'm never going to criticize Brad [00:03:00] Stevens, but I hope Celtic Management has an idea that they would love to keep Simons if all things being equal, naturally, if the bidding goes crazy, which I don't see, but if it gets back into the twenties I think you gotta move on. But if it stays down into where I'm talking, it's an interesting. Piece and then vukovich, who's getting a chance to play for a title, might be very interested in staying staying there. The next thing I wanted to do this week was just talk about different players on Boston and where they are. The 12, there's 12 people right now on the roster. They will be adding two within the next couple days. And I'm sure Stevens has got some ideas of where he is going, but let me just name a few of them. First guy I wanna mention is uo. I've talked about him a lot. I believe if UO can be an offensive player in the league. He could make a lot of money, obviously, and be a pretty good Celtic player. He's not really there [00:04:00] as offensive game. It's up and down the defensive game. Now let's talk, this guy is a player. He's big, he's wide, and he can guard from probably one to four her. He's got a future just doing that and he can make some money, but if he gets an offense, an offensive game, he could be a star. He really could be a star in the league. And fortunately the Celtics found him outta nowhere and did a great job utilizing him. The next person I wanted to talk about was Jordan Walsh. Jordan Walsh. Just an interesting player. He's really surprised a lot of people he's playing real well. The Celtics should be very happy. They have. Him defensively, he's another stud defensively, and he has really gone out and played decent defense, great defense, but off the ball offensively, he's become effective. He's a pretty good rebounder offensively, but he, and he can shoot [00:05:00] a three. He's not a bad shooter. And more importantly he does little things off the ball that affect the game and help the Celtics. And of course, he. Like Hugo and the next guy I'm gonna mention, Baylor Shireman. Those guys, all three of them bring a lot of energy when they come on the court, and that is in factual because the rest of the team responds to that and they can play with that. So I think the three of them have really done a nice job in helping the Celtics become a pretty good team. Bayla Shireman is the third, as I said. He's got a very good, unique talent. He can move his feet real well and stay in front of ball handlers that keeps you around. The other thing is. He could shoot a three. He's very good at keeping the ball high on the catch and bringing it through. So that's a quicker release than most people have. And he's also a pretty good pretty good rebounder. So he brings [00:06:00] something now between the three of them, they bring something every game to the team. And that's the part that, that is really something you can appreciate. As a Celtic fan and so on. The next guy I just wanna mention is Amari Williams. Amari Williams is a decent player. He's going to develop. The question is, will he develop it, the Celtics or somewhere else? He's going to get better as he begins to see the game slow down in front of him in the trip in at Maine, he is getting some triple doubles. He's playing very well. He's one of their best players and that should translate and transfer to the Boston Celtics, Ron Harper. Great game against Houston when he got the start. Hasn't shot real well since, but he brings something also. He's another guy that's all over the place. He's on the floor. He'll defend, he'll get his, him, him get himself dirty and he can play. He's another guy. And I would think that Brad Stevens will be [00:07:00] signing him to a regular contract. In the next few days now we get to the big men, Luca Garza. Luca's got a place on the team, but Luca might not play every game because he doesn't defend real well. He gives you his best defensively and. He's average at the very best, but offensively he's a very good offensive rebounder, can shoot a three and do a lot of little things that would bother other teams. Luca is somebody that the Celtics found, Brad Stevens and his group found, and they did a great job in making him. What he is. The next one is ne Nema. S cda. I think highly of him. I think he's just going to get better as he's in the league. He does a lot of nice things. He's not strong, and that means he can lose the ball often in traffic and that doesn't help his game and he doesn't always make his layups, but. He brings a great physical presence in the [00:08:00] middle and there's a rim protector and he can rebound. And the Celtics, if you remember going back to October, they needed rebounding. They found it. Nimi is able to do that. Now, the converse to Nimi is a guy by the name of Nicole Vukovic. He can score. He's a professional scorer. He can put the ball in the basket, and he does it well. And that's a very important talent. The Celtics need. He has really done the other day, 19 and 11 19 points, 11 rebounds. Pretty good game. And he's able to put the ball, like I said, and he's only playing 25 to 30 minutes. And again, if they can sign him cheaply next year, he can help them off the bench, playing 15 to 20 minutes a night and getting points and being an offensive threat for the team. Speaker: The next guy to mention would be the, my Sam Houser. Sam [00:09:00] Houser can score, he can put the ball in the basket. He, and when he's on, he just adds another thing to the offense. He's a professional scorer. They got him. 11 million a year is not a bad price to pay for a guy who can score and defensively he can hold his own. So they've got something there that works real well that, that makes Boston better. Moving right through is Peyton Prichard. Peyton Pritchard just gets better and better. He's very effective in the paint with that little fall away and that little jumper after using his body to push off and get those open shots, can hit a three offensively. He can be a, he's a spark plug now as a six man. He's a great six man. As we know from last year, he has done many good things for this team. Derek White. Is Derrick White? He went through a little slump for the last about two or three weeks ago, but he's out of it now and he can play, think back to the Houston game when he just got on fire in the third quarter and really put the game [00:10:00] away. Derrick's a very good defender and he's one of the best clutch fourth quarter players in the game. And just a great addition to this team. The last guy is Jalen Brown. MVP type C is the best way to describe it. He's carried them when they need it. Sometimes he'll get a little rambunctious and overdo it offensively, meaning looking to take the game on his shoulders. But that's fine. He's going he's having a great year and just let's hope it just continues. And I think of course it will. That's the team. And now the. Last thing I'll just bring up is Jason Tatum. If Tatum comes back with this cast, the Celtics are suddenly a team with a shot to get to the finals and that's depending on Tatum being healthy and able to play if that happens. Lookout the league and Boston. Boston will be back as one of the best teams. If not, you know the best. I don't think they're the best, but they'd [00:11:00] be one of the best teams in the league and that would be just pure fun for us Celtic fans. That's it for this week. Be sure to listen next week as we talk more Celtic basketball and we move it along after the all-star break. Thank you and tha continue supporting us.