Celtic Chalk Talk: Episode 8 - Analyzing Celtics Strategy: Tatum's Return, Trade Options, and Future Moves

Celtic Chalk Talk - December 22 2025 === Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome to another week of Celtic Chalk Talk. Here we are, we talk about the Celtics. My name's Steve Purciello, a Celtic fan my whole life, which is a long time. And I go back to Bill Russell and those great teams that they had then. So I have a little experience being a Celtic fan and I can always talk about them 'cause we, it never dies. You root for them forever. Last week was an interesting week. We opened up with Detroit and that was a measuring stick game, as I would say, and we found out if we were good enough to play with the big boys, we were home. So that helps us. But it didn't help us enough. There was a couple observations I had. The first thing I realized during the game was that Boston not quite enough talent to play with a team like Detroit Close. Now you begin to ask yourself, will Jason Tatum. Equal that, but then you have to understand, you gotta be patient. You [00:01:00] can't expect T Tatum to come back and be getting 30 a night and. Be Jason Tatum. It's gonna take a little time. There's gonna be minutes restrictions, and it's just not gonna be right out of the box. A good situation, it'll get better. Is he enough though, that allows you to play with Detroit and the Knicks who are better than Detroit, but is he enough? I don't know. I don't think so. Now in the game against Detroit. Brown and white tried to carry it in the fourth quarter. The thing that alarmed me was Anthony Simons was out there. Anthony Simons appeared not to want the ball down the stretch. He let brown and white play anybody who's watched Anthony Simons play, no. He is a human microwave. Vinny Johnson style, he can heat up and in a game like that, he could have. Carried you a little bit down the stretch. He did it. He disappeared. That's [00:02:00] something to think about. And it's a problem. And that I thought was probably the biggest thing I took outta the game was Simon's disappearance. And it was upsetting, but let's move along. After the measuring stick game, the Celtics then played the Miami Heat on Friday night. Interesting game. Miami was on a back to back, and that's an important thing to know going in. In the first half. I thought Miami played tremendous defense and was taking away Jalen Brown and white. And really, although white played great, but it was all through a lot of threes, but the dribble drives were out and brown was getting doubled and it was just getting taken away and I thought, uhoh, this could be a tough night. Fortunately for the Celtics, it was a back to back in the second half. For Miami in the second half, you saw Boston getting a lot of wide open threes, particularly in the beginning of the fourth quarter, Sam Houser came to life. Those of us who root for the [00:03:00] Celtics know he has not shot the ball well so far this year. But he came to life. Derek White had a crazy great game. Jalen Brown, not a great game, but he still got 30 and he scored when they needed him, and he was tough down the stretch. I Boston, 34 points in a third and 37 in the fourth. That is indicative of one thing, Miami going in a back to back. They ran, their legs were not there anymore. Again, first half Boston had trouble getting good shots, second half getting wide open shots. We all know Boston can shoot. They shot the lights out in the fourth quarter and just blew out. Miami going away in what would've been, it was a close game. Outside of the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, Boston didn't really play well in the first half, but they got the win and that's what counts now. Then they came back on a back to backer Saturday night. Very interesting game with Toronto. A lot to be learned [00:04:00] in that game. They played Toronto Toronto got Boston, got off quick. Toronto came back by the half. And you're starting to think it's gonna, it's gonna be a rough night. Jaylen Brown's out. So what are we going to do? What happened? A couple things. First of all, Joe Missoula, who I'll talk about in a few minutes, but Joe Missoula coached a brilliant game. What he did, back to back legs go in the second half, Browns out. What he did was really very integrate his bench and gave them serious minutes. Uo Gonzalez has been, he's just getting better and he's going to be a player. I love to see what he's gonna be like in two years. Good defender can stick to three, goes to the basket. He's got the makings of a real good player. And I think. I think Boston's got something there. Now, Walsh was sick and he played a little bit, tried to play and he wasn't effective so they pulled him. What's [00:05:00] interesting? Luca Garza, who's been in the doghouse, hasn't played for weeks, comes out double digit, double digits and rebounds. End points, great offensive rebounding, gave a spark. Another Joe Missoula move. Guy was lost on the bench, pulls him outta nowhere, and he plays very well. This was part of integrating that bench. Minot played his usual fine game and by use. And Simon's of course, was good also. So by using that bench and using these people, it cut the minutes. He used his regulars who were coming in the back to back, except for Peyton, Prichard, Payton, PRID. He's like the energetic EE energizer the bunny. He just never runs outta gas. Played minutes Friday night, Saturday night, and he was tremendous. Saturday night, he almost a triple double, but he just did so many things that were just tremendous. And I wanna get back to [00:06:00] Hugo. The thing I'm gonna say to him, his flying around. When you play basketball, if you're playing with somebody who's all over the place and you're on his team, it gives you the energy to wanna do the same. And all of a sudden the Celtics 'cause of UGOs flying around and playing so well. The Celtics began to fly around and play well in the second half, and they beat Toronto going away. UO is just, he can do a lot of things. One of the things he's very good at, he can defend. Just about any position, and that's rare in the NBA, he and Jared Wal Jordan Walsh have the same thing. They can defend anybody and that's big. It's a good win. It was a good win on a night back to backer in Toronto and you gotta be happy about that. Couple things I talked about uo and the thing I'll say about that is he's this week's Jordan Walsh, he's the guy that's on the come. He's just getting better and so on. But I touched on something before, Joe Missoula, [00:07:00] he does a tremendous job and we should, as Celtic fans be appreciative of the job he does. Yeah, smart enough to use his bench early against Toronto in the back to back. It paid off a lot of teams. A guy like Luca Garza would've just given up and not cared anymore after he hit the bench for a couple weeks. He got Luca out there and Luca played hard and played well, and he was a key in the game. Joe Zo Hugo, he's brought him along slow. Hugo's getting better with every game. It's impressive. The Celtics, the way they develop talent. Let's think about cda. Got him from sa from Sacramento, cut by Sacramento, was the Ford Center for two years. He languished behind everybody. Horford and Pingus. And Cornett this year. And he goes out and he's a positive contributor every night. Good. Roll man to the basket on the screen. And Rol has demonstrated lately the ability [00:08:00] to go to the basket, put the ball on the floor, and score. He does a and he can rebound and holds his own. Remember going into the season while back we were worried about rebounding. NE has helped. Shut that up and has helped in the rebounding area. So these are things that Boston has developed. Jordan Walsh, he was the last guy on the bench at beginning of the year, two years. They kept saying someday and you thought ain't gonna make it. He'll probably get cut. No, they found a spot and he has been flourishing in that spot. So you really have confidence in their ability to develop talent. The last one I'll say with that is Sam Houser. Sam Houser, if you forgot, was a free agent. Went to Virginia. Transferred to Virginia. Actually Boston signed him as a free agent and he's been a project, what a great shooter. And he goes in streaks. He can help put teams away. So those are some of the things the Celtics did. The other thing the Celtics are demonstrating is they have nice [00:09:00] depth. And boy that is important, especially in the back-to-back situations like they demonstrated. Those are important things now. How good could Boston be? And I've thought about this a lot and I think that they, when Tatum comes back, as I said, it's gonna take a while for him to assimilate in and be back to what Jason Tatum was. I don't see it right away. If he does come back this year, if he does, they really have some decisions to make. They have the one card am Forny Simons. Now you got some choices here if you stay with Simons. I think he can help, but I don't know if he's comfortable yet. His contract's up at the end of the year, so the logical thing is to trade him and try to get a big, that compliments kada and can help us. In the five spot, however, just put this in the back of your mind. What if you take Anthony Simons and okay, you sit down with him and say, look, obviously you're not gonna get 27 million from [00:10:00] anybody after this year's old. Over. How about you come back with us and sign for 10, 12 million for two, three years after this year? Would he be interested? And if he is, what a great sign, because then you're getting a bench player. Don't forget, Houser's making 11 million. I think Simon's a better player, so you're getting a good bench player at a good price. And he can help 'em as we see Ugo and the rest of these people develop that. Those are the things the Celtics have to decide. And I think the biggest decision here is in or out, and by, in or out. What I mean is the Celtics have to decide, do they think they have a real chance to get to the finals? That means going through the Knicks, that means going through Detroit. You need a little more. We just saw it Monday a little more to be able to beat the Detroits of the world and you need a little more to beat the Knicks consistently also. So those are the factors and those are things that'll be coming. Decisions will be made by [00:11:00] mid-February. And and it'll be interesting to see what Boston decides to do. That's it for today. Always a pleasure. If you haven't seen us or heard us yet, try us again next week. We go out every Monday and on Celtic Chalk Talk. Thank you and take care all.