Taking a closer look at the Jrue Holiday trade & what's next for Boston Celtics

We're still trying to process the Jrue Holiday trade to the Celtics, and one of the criticisms we've heard is that we focused maybe a little too much on the negative like how it impacts the depth and makes the Celtics very expensive and unsustainable for more than a year or two. So John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal brought on former blogging partner Chuck McKenney to get a little bit more of a fan's perspective and look at the trade in ways we might have missed the first time around.
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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It's an inside look at the C's from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.
#BostonCeltics #Celtics #NBA #JaysonTatum #JaylenBrown

[@gregleavitt1255]

If you can't get psyched about having 4 all-stars in your first string, I don't know what to tell you! Gabriel & Queta have promise and, if neither of them work out, it's obvious the owners are going to get us what we need. So much good, eager, hungry, athletic talent picked up in the off-season. Rob, as awesome as he was, was only available 50% of the time anyway so we needed a backup. We'll be good. Pretty obvious we shouldn't worry and can expect we're in good hands with Grousbeck & Co. ☘

[@subliminakeys1674]

Truth. Everyone wants to just complain. Just sit back and enjoy the show. Whatever happens happens. We need the chip and it will be a bummer if they don't win but if you only enjoy basketball IF they win the chip... then you are not an actual basketball fan. Every team loses 90% of the time.

[@gregleavitt1255]

@@subliminakeys1674 TRUTH! My lord, people gots ta chillax! Go C's!

[@kevinsullivan3148]

Big Facts.. I was a huge smart defender too but how can i complain they gave a champion version if smart!! A Leader proven on all levels Gold medal

[@gregleavitt1255]

@@kevinsullivan3148 I think they gave Smart & Grant long enough and found myself yelling at the tv with the mins they dogmatically gave to those two instead of others. So, nothing but love for those two (and Brogdon and Rob) but this train gotta keep rolling forward! Freakin' love all the moves, including Cassell, more mins for PP, and DWhite's shaved head 👊😎

[@rocafellagibson502]

Plus as good as Rob was defensively he was a liability offensively hurt the spacing

[@VT3821]

Found this podcast during the off-season and been a religious listener ever since. So hyped to start this season and spend it here with Karalis ! 🍀

[@dragonslayerthegod9284]

I’ve personally found him to be one the most consistent ones out here posting Celtics content and half the video isn’t wasted away talking in circles or about himself like A LOT of pod casts

[@VT3821]

@@dragonslayerthegod9284 100% agree. John has good relationships with the team, gets straight to the point, has the inside details & a good mind for the game. Above and away the best Celtics podcast

[@LockedOnCeltics]

Welcome aboard! Thank you!

[@ApeMan-atwork]

I was hesitant to think that the Holiday trade would happen, too. I was also not entirely sold on the idea of what it cost, at first. I am 100% on board now, and I am going absolutely bonkers with excitement about attending the game on Sunday!! LFGoooo Celtics!!! ☘🏀

[@LogjammerDbaggagecling-qr5ds]

Not happy enough about the trade? Idk about you guys, but I'm through the damn roof over it lol. I am so hyped for this season that it's actually made me not care about how bad the patriots are.

[@NorEEzta]

"On to the Celtics." ~ Bill Belichick

[@gregleavitt1255]

At this point, the C's are better than the other three teams combined 😅☘

[@LogjammerDbaggagecling-qr5ds]

@gregleavitt1255 yeah, but you can't be mad at the Bruins because they did exactly the right thing, and just came up short. The patriots and red sox aren't even trying to win championships.

[@gregleavitt1255]

@@LogjammerDbaggagecling-qr5ds Just stating facts. Definitely not mad but that was the biggest playoff flop I've ever seen.

[@LogjammerDbaggagecling-qr5ds]

@@gregleavitt1255 for sure. As much as I love Patrice bergeron, I think he had the choke gene.

[@kevincartwright2518]

Don't know why you so blue. Just listen to JB and what PP said and even Jrue himself. I am always cautiously optimistic at the beginning of the season, but this year, I'm a little (ok a lot) beyond that. GO CELTICS ☘️🍀☘️

[@Marc-Sanchez]

good week of episodes Karalis, enjoy the weekend

[@intelligentman7195]

Lets go Celtics

[@gregcalabig4408]

I have just watched the podcast of CATTLES , an indept analysis of the Holiday trade BACKED UP with a ton statistics. I agree with him 100%

[@bryanstone654]

I'm confident that our backup big situation is going to be okay after watching some film on Gabriel and Queta. They should be able to play enough minutes to keep Al Horford fresh enough for when it matters. I still wonder how much consideration, if any, we gave to bringing back Griffin or bringing in Dwight Howard. Anyone know? Thanks.

[@celticsfaninthedesert4778]

Brad wants Blake to come back but he’s considering retirement and hasn’t said anything yet aside from that. Or so I’ve read

[@kevinsullivan3148]

why do that when you have young guys you mentioned plus kabengele kornet. I think joe needs to just use the roster the whole roster and we will be more then fine

[@celticsfaninthedesert4778]

@@kevinsullivan3148 Because Kornet is a flaming bag of trash and Mfiondu Kabengele isn’t on the team any longer but great ideas

[@williamkohler8073]

Best episode ever of an already great show. I hope we get to see John and Chuck again soon.

[@caseyplunkett6083]

For myself, Locked On will never replace The Morning Dump. Nevertheless I am happy for your success John.

[@LockedOnCeltics]

hahaha thank you so much!

[@donnycassidy3318]

Sam Hauser ain’t getting enough respect our top 7 is great!

[@philliphart6327]

That was my first take when the news came out and every has been talking about top 6. I agree with you but definitely the tope six stand out. The part I don’t like is it suddenly is changing how people see Hauser. He played a ton last year. It was his breakout and he deserves a role this year.

[@donnycassidy3318]

@@philliphart6327 i think hes a very underrated role layer who complements stars perfectly and I bet they dont make this trade if they didnt believe in him

[@philliphart6327]

@@donnycassidy3318 and I like him replacing one of the Jays off the bench to get the same benefit from having a floor of all shooters.

[@kevinsullivan3148]

As well i as i believe not meriting brad keeping Pritchard even tho he asked for a trade over playing tome last year and now signed even more high caliber guards over him..

[@kevinsullivan3148]

I think Brad is influencing the growth of joe mazulla to use the whole roster!! Not leaning on 6 guys to win 60 games and a tite

[@samhillson898]

who wants a player with tremendous character voted best teammate 3 times- almost 20 pts a game and 5 times all defensive first team much rather have 2 guys with injury histories- you are right John

[@curtiskellam5358]

I'm not happy with the trade. I'm elated!

[@JoseSantos-zj3ll]

I'm a Rob's fan. Yet the trade was made and now it's time to look at the present and at the future.

[@TheRobversion1]

my rotation prediction would work this way: starters: jrue, white, jb, jt, kp kp, jrue and jb go to the bench early. jt and white stay, then pp, hauser and al come in. then jt and white go out, jrue and jb come in and play with pp, hauser and al. then eventually KP, JT and white come back to close the half, with kP coming in a bit earlier. that's pretty much the 8 man rotation. for b2b, Kornet replaces AL so he's the 9th man. then the 10th man for emergency depth if any of the wings, pgs are unavailable is Svi. the guy showed alot of promise last year with Charlotte as a point-wing in the hayward mold. then the garbage time lineup is: banton, svi, walsh, brissett and kornet. leaving stevens/gabriel out of this 1st as they are on training camp contracts.

[@jasonmartin6696]

So getting a unicorn who can play defense and score 20 was an overreaction even though getting smart off the team was an added bonus. Now jrue holiday is some how hurting this team because we don’t have a big who played 30 games and we got rid of a guy we didn’t want. It just purely being down on the trade for the sake of being down on the trade. John is normally super level headed but I think smart and rob being gone are making him a bit too green team heavy, they were nice role players that we now replaced with star level players. There is no scenario each trade wasn’t a major win.

[@wiseguyatl74]

KP - gives us 7ft All-Star that can give you post Scoring and still stretch the floor - JH - gives us a two-way All Star PG with winning pedigree. The only question that we really won't know until the season progresses is 1. Can key players stay healthy? 2. Will team depth be an issue seeing what we gave up to get these new key pieces

[@darrenwilliams8376]

Go head Jrue I want you to raise that jersey like Banner 18 3Js Exspress yah herd meh LFG Celtics.

[@mctaguer]

For what it's worth, I thought you had a balanced, relevant overview of the trade. No issues.

[@lonzfzz2323]

Wouldn't it be interesting if Celtics were pressed to make this trade because: 1. Holiday could have gone to a competitor 2. Holiday wanted to come here after the trade trauma..

[@andrewlaffin4911]

So on the whole apron thing, isn't the cap going up dramatically in a couple years? I know they're smoothing the increase but shouldn't that help?

[@irabarrows5515]

For the past few years C's are notoriously "deep" but many of those guys don't figure in the playoff rotation. For the regular season, depth pieces are either a) already on the roster; b) acquirable as the season progresses. Sure seeding matters but having the best 6 players will take a team farther than having the best 12.

[@Mr.Sax.]

I have faith on the new guys outside of the Top6, at least one of them is going to step up. 6 good players for big minutes and 2 more who play 15 minutes or so is all you need in the playoffs at the end of the day. If they manage to minimize Pritchard constantly being targeted on defense, Brisset and him can be enough. If more step up and we have another 2 it would be fantastic but again, 8 players is usually the formula for the playoffs.

[@Joemondaking]

I think some of the ads could be marketed better with more realistic scenarios being used, like the Jase Case medical kit. Someone has used medication from the kit on their pet dog because of the vet bills being absurdly high. Majority of us are lucky enough to have some kind of health insurance unlike pets majority do not. The kit would be great for people who travel a lot since it offers quite a few alleviates or cures. Which is another thing that could’ve been expended on, it seemed like it was just a basic first aid kit with a maybe a couple extra goodies that we all already have. Thanks John I know you’re all about basketball and just want to get it over

[@gordbillybob]

I think we all knew Brogdon wasn't coming back and wrote him off already. So Jrue basically only cost us Rob.... emotionally anyway.

[@patrickbello8130]

Facts brogdon was done with the team he just didn’t say it

[@mikecabardo]

Red’s Army was one of my daily reads some ten years ago. Nice site for aggregated Celtics content :)

[@subliminakeys1674]

Pretty simple. Rob is now KP and Smart is now Jrue, both upgrades and we didnt gave anymore center depth last year either and were first in the league before Rob even came back from injury. Only depth we really lost is Brogdon, and he was useless in the playoffs anyway

[@KWAPT]

HOLY CRAP IS THAT THE LEGEND HIMSELF? Chuck Mc! You better put some respect on his name…🙏🏻☘️

[@subliminakeys1674]

Everyone laughs at Kornett and he was rarely an issue for us. He is not the best player but he has good ball IQ and is very tall. He had some nice blocks and interior defense for fill in minutes. He was even decent on the offensive glass and put backs. With that said, if we find someone better im all for it

[@carolinadnm17]

Chuck brought up a good point/question...'Did Wyc lose patience to want big changes to win it now'? I think that was a big factor in Brad getting the green light to make it happen....second apron be damned!

[@lonzfzz2323]

Especially after we were almost swept by Miami.

[@Leharrio_Structure7414]

That’s what I’ve always been saying over the past 5-7 season.. It’s the Celtics media consistently self-sabotaging their own team no matter what good the team do it’s always rubbish down talk coming from many so called Celtics supporters

[@mctaguer]

I think the long-term ramifications now are just extensions of what was ALREADY true: the window was going to start closing after next year, even if they'd never traded for KP. As you said after that trade, getting KP actually gave them MORE options after the upcoming season. What if KP ends up having BETTER chemistry with Tatum than Jaylen? Ditto for Jrue. No, it's not conceivable to keep all four more than 2 seasons, but who cares right now? They might have been looking to break up the Jays alone by that point ANYWAY. Brad dramatically improved their "win now" quotient AND gave them more permutations to consider for WHO they keep. Moreover, I think Jrue further insulates them vs. injury to one of the others.

[@Joemondaking]

If one of them gets a Hayward injury it is season over, am I wrong? I would love to hear johns take

[@bobqzzi]

Here's hoping for a season of all bench lineups in the 4th quarter

[@Paul_pp]

Karalis ,above average, accessing the team status, Dapping up the Truth on the sideline

[@creativeconcerts4511]

I love Rob Williams. If healthy he is a game changer. But even more than health, he doesn't fit in to Mazzula's style. Rob was not going to ever get to his peak while playing for Mazzula, so allowing him to go elsewhere was probably the best thing for both parties.

[@Op3nUrEyez]

Excellent point.

[@devinjenkins9964]

Y’all have to understand moves were basically forced. The tantrum everybody was going through when the playoffs arrived and clashing heads in the locker room. We needed this breathe of fresh air. And repeating the same thing over and over with out any type of change is delusion itself

[@therealdarrell282]

The Celtics making that move shows me they are serious about winning a chip. The Vegas Golden Knights made some moves that pissed of the fans when they got rid of players that were loved by the fans. Those moves paid off for the organization when the team won the Stanley Cup. I liked Rob, but to win a chip you have to make those moves to get better pieces around your superstars. Next Summer, Celtics Nation will be celebrating because the team got Banner 18.

[@stephenbakerjr267]

i think my reaction is it was too much to give up both Brogden and Williams plus stuff. not sure he is that much better of a guard vs brogdon that it imprives us enough to give up williams

[@tylerriley2587]

No some are happy that Jrue is here he’s the guy we need it’s the defense that’s the big area we need to improve at

[@subliminakeys1674]

I think the Celtics are better with Smart and Williams over Holiday if they have KP as well. But I think the Celtics are better with Holiday over Brogdon and Williams.

[@Dakes34]

Charles Bassey would be great frontcourt depth if available.

[@alexchesaux5417]

Guys: 1st Thank god Smart is gone (we wouldnt have gotten Jrue) 2nd France 3rd Brad doesn't improvise, he planned trading Smart from the get to

[@chewy98ta28]

I don't see Holiday being much better than Brogdon and he's three years older at 33 which is where most players drop off fast. For that they throw in two first rounders and 25 year old Rob Williams who when he's healthy is a game changer. Timelord total regular season games played in 23, 24, and 25 year old seasons is 148. Holiday played 139 games for those three seasons. For the previous three seasons Holiday averaged 64 games and Timelord averaged 49 so they both miss games. Timelord also played 27 of the last 30 games last season and every playoff game. Timelord is trending toward being a healthier player for a few years just like Holiday had a good stretch when he turned 26. Big win for Portland. The Celtics can talk all they want about how this is the year but they made themselves worse with this trade. When teams throw two big men at them in the playoffs and dominate the inside and the Celtics are jacking up brick threes again they're gonna go home empty again. The only way they can improve is if Jordan Walsh turns into the second best player on the team but how's he gonna get minutes with the 304 million dollar turnover machine on the roster. Are they gonna bench Brown even if other guys do more. Hell no, he'll get all his minutes and all his shots so he can get all his ISO points and keep his trade value up for after the season for the sucker GM that likes athletic guys that shoot a lot and can't dribble with their left hand.

[@michaeln3044]

Personally I felt like healthy rob would cause absolute chaos in this lineup but man he really has never been able to be that. And the clincher for jrue for me is that man is gonna be out for absolute blood. Usually it’s just ur former team ur pissed at. He’s gonna be pissed at his team and it’s stars. I can’t wait.

[@paulkane5846]

The Celtics got rid of Rondo, with lots of encouragement from Bob Ryan and all the rest of the media and near media and have gone through a dozen top point guards trying to replace him and that story continues - Holiday is probably the best one so far.

[@landonlakes4782]

☘️☘️☘️ We need Locked on Celtics Apex pyramid edition ts ASAP

[@coolgenuinephil3051]

Apex pyramid🤔 ☘️☘️☘️☘️👊👊💪💪💥⚡

[@coolgenuinephil3051]

See u in matt's stream sunday

[@kevinsullivan3148]

This team gets be over excited i gotta slow down!!! Pump the breaks and oray Joe can put this all together and use the WHOLE Roster effectively!

[@cmac392]

"Celtic DEPTH has taken a hit" is a bad media take. All Brad has done is adjust their approach, which will make it a better playoff team, when rotations shrink. The Celtics have concentrated their talent and now have 5 TOP50 NBA players. The depth, #6-15, should be a collection of "role" players. The Bench players will get floor time based on how well they enhance lineups. If it is a tight regular season game or a PLAYOFF game the Celtics will always contain several of their TOP5 players. Surrounding your TOP5 with bench players who understand their ROLE and can execute is much more important than having a bench player looking to get theirs (YOUNGSTERS) or play hero ball (Vets that overvalue their skills relative to the TOP5). Vacuum player analysis is how you end up with dysfunctional teams.

[@dennisb57]

The one that was negative don’t know basketball. They think offense win Championships. Bringing Holiday in gives a better chance at winning #18. Holiday along with Derrick White will be the reason we win #18. We’ve tried Tatum and Brown so we know that didn’t work. What Boston had before bringing in White and Holiday was Paul Pierce and Walker. Tatum Pierce and Brown is Walker. They won games but that’s all they didn’t win a championship.

[@l2sky3]

It’s bad I’m more of a football guy and I’m already back here only 4 pats games in🤣

[@samhillson898]

once again you need to be reminded it is not your money and our owner and head of basketball loves it

[@TheWert34]

I’m getting Stephen A and Skip Bayless tension between these two

[@nicholasbrandoli2736]

Any way you see Marcus smart coming back before the trade deadline Ja Morant coming back will limit Smarts minutes

[@LockedOnCeltics]

Nope

[@michaeln3044]

I don’t understand this mentality at all because you didn’t buy broken toys. Kristaps extension is still very viable, jrue is still a very moveable piece. So I guess my question is what’s the harm? Either this work as i suspect it absolutely will or you trade out at prob still great value two guys who warrant assets and keep the jays and build all over again. It’s not like u have a harden here or a lowry or a wall or Westbrook you have guys still playing elite who either are the answer or can be moved off of in a positive fashion. Boston sports media has been horrendous to me in analyzing what this team is and is capable of. It’s just a bunch of handwringing and terrible Kp takes and now jrue. And hearing smart was some kind of world beater who absolutely was not just replaced by a much better player. Also the Celtics don’t have chump change as some of these bench compete guys, these guys are prototypical long, defense and hustle first types. We don’t need scoring. We need guys who will take pride in locking guys down and be switchable and we have a bunch who can compete for this role. I personally would like us to bring in nerlens noel as rotation big but other than that I’m good with where we are at. And stay away from Dwight. I can’t wait to watch Boston media flip out for this team when it’s running right…

[@nicholaseaster58]

This show would be better with a second host.

[@BreathingRoomx]

Dalano Banton? Lamar Stevens is decent at the 4

[@Tommy-lh3uj]

my problem with this is why they worried about how much celtics gave up and the dudes brad stevens gave up was injury prone and draft picks that's not worth anything because celtics going to continue to be good and for the haters that like to say celtics gave up to much and don't have depth and jrue holiday it's good most of the bucks fans was not saying that when jrue was on there team now that jrue on the celtics he trash even know when he was with the bucks jrue was the 2nd option if not the 1st option now jrue on a team where it's not needed for him to be the 1st option or the 2nd option or the 3rd option and if the haters have so much doubt it should be easy for them to beat the celtics if they so confident even know Giannis and dame never played 1 game together it's hilarious 🧱☘️☘️# banner 18

[@darrencox9253]

Boston is better team if you can see that maybe you need a new job. Sound like you hating because you was wrong about them Going Out to get drew.. At the end of the day we will see. But if you can see that boston is in a better place Now. Then I don't know what to tell you

[@Bomb.com777]

F.T.A. (feed the algorithm)