Jaylen Brown Should Call Tatum, Not the Press

Celtic Chalk Talk - 10/26/2026 === Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome everybody to Celtic Chalk Talk. It's another week of Boston Celtic basketball. My name's Steve Purciello. I'm the host and the only guest. I'm an old Celtic fan since Bill Russell, and I will always be a Celtic fan. That's just the way it is. Before I begin, I wanna talk a little bit about the Peach Basket network. The Peach Basket network is a bunch of independent writers and podcasters who have no affiliation, are not paid for this. We just do it, and there's a lot of interesting things going on podcast-wise, as well as article-wise. I f- really suggest that you look into other ... If you like my podcast, look into other podcasts and see there's a lot of infor- information that's given out, and there's a lot of good stuff that is out there. So take a shot, look at us, and then subscribe if you really like us. There's [00:01:00] plenty of it. Okay, this week I guess before I even begin talking about the two games Boston played last week, I wanna talk about the Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum situation. First of all, Jayson Jaylen Brown is a great, was a great Celtic. He will-- His number will be in the rafters in, after he retires and so on. There'll be a nice tribute for him when he comes back in January, and he gets all the great things. He's an NBA Finals MVP. He was great for the community. He's done a lot for the business people, especially the Black business people, and for the kids in the community, showing up at schools and just doing so many great things, and people from Boston wanna remember him for that. And that's why I get into the next thing. And even if you're if you're Jayson Tay-- if you're Jaylen Brown, even if you're angry with Tatum and I don't think he really should be, but if you are angry with Jayson Tatum, okay. That's fine. But you know what? Sometimes in [00:02:00] life, you gotta keep your business to yourself. Him doing this makes him look like a crybaby and a troublemaker. That's not a good look and it just... it, the bitterness and the upsetness are just not good. Evidently, he doesn't like being out of Boston. Now, there's a lot of rumors that have gone on about this. Some say that he wanted, had some demands for Boston, and if they weren't gonna be met, he wanted to be traded. Some say he was already planning on being in Milwaukee as the number one guy. That ties into something else. But don't take it out verbally on people. That's private information, how you feel about others. You don't do it. I think he's disappointed. He did get traded, but I don't think he really liked Philadelphia. I think he wanted to be the number one guy like he was last year. And that brings us to another thing. He should've never made the quote, never made the quote that he enjoyed that season, even if that's true, because a lot of people take that in the wrong way. They look at that as, "Here he goes. He's [00:03:00] talking. He's talking about a season. They didn't win it, and because he was the number one guy, he wasn't concerned about team." Those things people think about, and they resonate, and it makes you think about Jaylen should've been on the Olympic team a couple years ago. Instead, they chose Derrick White." And you may begin to start to think, "Is the reputation of Jaylen not real good?" Th-there's a lot of different things you can take with it, and maybe that's why Boston didn't want him anymore. So there's a bunch of things, but my, my s-strong suggestion to Jaylen, you have a right to be upset. You have a right to be mad. But don't run it through the press. My strongest s-suggestion is You got Tatum's number. Give him a call. Settle it. When you two get together, you're gonna see each other in a couple weeks in Philadelphia, sit down, find some time, you and him, and settle the differences. But it's between you and Tatum. This shouldn't be something playing out in the press. [00:04:00] That's my feeling, and I th- love Jaylen Brown, and I don't like seeing him dragged through the mud and him looking like a complainer. Now, Boston's two games during the week, first thing was with Detroit. Now they blew a 22-point lead, and there's a lot of negativity with that. Tatum had a horrible night. Paul George had a good night and really, Paul George is looking like a real player that can help the Celtics. When originally the trade happened, we looked at this as a salary dump, and Boston'll get rid of him after a year or two and that'll be the end. But he can help Boston. He's the number two guy on the team, and he was legit in that game. Tatum was six for 23 in that game. Terrible. And oh for seven from three. He had 11 assists, which was the good thing. But it just... The game, Boston had a 22-point lead. Detroit in the third quarter started biting at it. The crowd got into it, and Boston didn't respond. I believe they went on a big run in the fourth where [00:05:00] Boston didn't score for a long period of time, and the killer was guys like Javonte Green, who Boston had, if you remember, and Javonte was a good defender, but couldn't shoot. Now he can shoot. Believe me he killed Boston with the threes, and Duncan Robinson was able to get open for in the threes. The, the disappointment was Mitchell Robinson didn't play well, but it was his first game. Some people think he's not in good enough condition, but we'll see. Things change over time. Boston got out-rebounded 59-45, which is pretty poor. Detroit was shooting in the teens from three in the first half, but it ended up that 38%. That tells you how hot they got in the second half. And it just... Javonte was five for eight. Tr-- Robinson was five for nine on threes. So they killed them, and Javonte looked like every time he got the ball, Boston had to look out. Now, I kinda look at that game in a different way than a lot of people. I see some positives. [00:06:00] Boston had a 22-point lead. Detroit is good. They're a good team. I didn't think they'd be this good, but they are good. They're legit. Boston is good enough to play with them. I think Detroit I think Philadelphia might be the best team, although Detroit beat them last night, but Philadelphia didn't have their whole team. But I think Detroit is one of the best teams, and Boston is right there with them. So I'm not taking the negative, I'm taking the positive in it. And I think as Mitchell Robinson acclimates himself to the Celtics, he'll get better, and he'll help Boston more. He did more in the Knick game and made some big plays in that game. So i-it slowly, it might take a while. The other person I'm impre- I'm really impressed with Paul George. I just think he's really still has something left. Now, the next game that was against the Knicks, and it's a good win. I always said, and we talked about this in the Shot Clock pod this week, I always said that when two good teams meet [00:07:00] early in the season, the best barometer is if the home team can hold on. If they don't, it's saying something because it's saying the o- the other team might be better when all things being equal because you're on the, the other team's court and you're beating them. So all things aren't equal, and you're beating them. So the Celtics beat them by four. It was a good win, and it was a good win for a number of reasons. Jayson Tatum, seven points in the last minute or so of the game. A thr- he hit a three with somebody in his face to, to just about nail it down. But he did score seven in the last minute, and he showed why he's one of the best players, and he's coming back, and look out. H-he ended up with 36, nine, and seven assists, nine rebounds. What a great game. He really played well, but more importantly, when the game was on the line, Tatum took over, and that's what you want for your high-paid best player. You always want him [00:08:00] to be the guy to take over. The other things that I really was impressed with, Boston's defense was excellent. Walsh defended Brunson real well. Brunson had a tough game. He didn't shoot well. Walsh is showing value. He's got value with this team because he can go out against, and he starts against the best scorer on the other team and really set the pace for the game for that other, th-that scorer on the other team. Paul George had a good game. Paul George continuously shows an ability to get in passing lanes, slap balls away, and also defend straight up as well as anybody. He is really a surprise on how good a defender he still is. Mitchell Robinson showed signs of coming on. He made a beautiful block against Towns down in the fourth quarter. It came from the side, but it was a great block. And he's starting to show some signs. Tatum closing the game out was a great sign. [00:09:00] Queta, 15 and 6. Walsh, like I said, held Brunson to 19. They're showing signs. The Celtics are showing signs of getting better. They needed that win for the mental state of Boston, and that win will help them. Now they believe they can go out and do it, and it also meant a lot to Jayson Tatum 'cause now he thinks he can go out and do it. Now, it-- this isn't a negative, but it's something they have to think about. I understand Walsh's place, I understand those guys, and I understand there'll be time coming, but Hugo looked really good in the preseason. He's not getting many minutes. He's not getting the opportunity, n- nor is Baylor Scheierman getting the opportunity to play. This is a factor, and they've got to be able to develop them, so they've got-- Mazzulla's gotta find more minutes for them if he can find more minutes, because they might develop into something that really could help them. But I do understand Jordan Walsh. [00:10:00] Maybe the answer is maybe to cut a few minutes off of Paul George, because naturally he's 36 years old, so you don't know how long and how well he can go on. But you do need to find more time. The other thing that I find interesting is Payton Pritchard has now become a player that other teams are aware of and taking away a lot of his things he does, and it's up to Payton Pritchard to adjust to that and find something new that will get him open to get shots. He struggled to get open shots in both games. And that's a really big thing, 'cause Boston needs a consistent offensive player in Payton Pritchard. That's it for this week. Enjoyed it. A lot more games this week. And we'll be talking again next week. See ya on Celtic Chalk Talk. Thank you.