Havlicek Stole the Pod NBA Basketball Podcast

The 2024 NBA offseason is coming to an end, and the 2024-25 regular season kicking off with it. Which teams around the league have seen their stock rise in recent weeks? Which clubs have seen their stock fall, and which are holding steady as injuries, extensions, and signings shift the title odds ever so slightly? And of course, where are the Boston Celtics trending throughout all of this as opening night is upon us?

The hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast sat down to talk out where each team in the league is headed as the new NBA season begins. We also get into what might happen with the team's open roster spot after Lonnie Walker was cut, which other camp invitees are headed where, and propose expanding the infrastructural honor bestowed on Celtics legend Bill Russell even further.

Join us for one last look at the landscape of the league before the games start to count, and Boston (hopefully) inches closer to hanging a 19th banner.

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What does it take to repeat as an NBA champion -- and do the Boston Celtics have it? There has not been a repeat champ in the league since 2018, and there have only been a handful since the turn of the century. At present, the Celtics are heavy favorites to win it all and hang Banner 19, but what does the past tell us about Boston's potential future as a back-to-back champ?

What helps a team repeat from one season to the next? What can get in the way? And which of these things are even under anyone's control? To get to the bottom of that particular pile of data, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with cohost of the "All-NBA" pod and DNVR Sports analyst Adam Mares. We took a magnifying glass to the last three franchises to pull off the rare feat and the last three teams which did not, and took notes on what Boston is already doing -- and what else they might want to work at to add to their repeat odds.

We also cover how Boston has looked in preseason play, who might make the last open roster spot (and when), if anyone, and our thoughts on the state of NBA docuseries among other things, so be sure to tune in.

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The Boston Celtics have finished their training camp and kicked off their 2024-25 NBA preseason with a pair of wins over the Denver Nuggets in Abu Dhabi. And around the rest of the league, preseasons are kicking off with the last of the trades and signings we are likely to see until the month of December having been finalized.

With these data points, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast took a last look at which teams we think will find success in the 2024-24 regular season, which teams are likely to capture the (Cooper) Flagg, and what we learned from Boston's wins in the United Arab Republic about how the Celtics will play this coming campaign.

We gamified the "Lab" portion of our programming into a friendly wager among the cohosts, so if you have an idea of what the winner (or the losers) should do, be sure to let us know with a comment on the social media network formerly known as Twitter.

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The Boston Celtics have had their Media Day and training camp early to facilitate their preseason exhibitions in Abu Dhabi later this week, but they have done so with a few notable shadows hanging over the storied ball club. The more imminent and tangible of those two shadows comes in the shape of Karl-Anthony Towns having been dealt from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the New York Knicks.

The other of the two is more phantasmal and harder to pin down, simply due to the ephemeral and volatile nature of the moving pieces involved. That would be the pending sale of the team we just learned more about through a recent article from the Boston Globe's Adam Himmelsbach. Just how much are these twin specters making their presence known to the Celtics at training camp?

To get to the bottom of this question, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with the "Garden Report" podcast host and Celtics beat writer Bobby Manning to get a feel about where these issues register among the players and coaching staff ahead of the start of their title defense. Both loom large in very different ways as potential barriers to Banner 19, but is it too early for either to impact the Celtics?

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For the Boston Celtics, the NBA's 2024 offseason has officially ended with the arrival of the team's Media Day. And while many Celtics have been back in the City of Boston for some time now, now the work truly begins for the team to defend their status as the league's reigning champions.

During the annual event, Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens gave the assembled press updates on everything from the pending sale of the franchise to the overall health of the roster, as well as many other granular details on the status of the ball club ahead of the start of the 2024-25 regular season. We also heard from head coach Joe Mazzulla and many of the players suiting up for Boston this season.

To get a handle on the absolutely massive flood of information this event always creates, cohost of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast Cameron Tabatabaie linked up with WEEI's Justin Turpin.

Get up to speed with all things Media Day with Turpin and Tabatabaie while we wait for preseason to kick off for the Celtics early next month in Abu Dhabi.

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For such a popular league, the NBA's origins are among the most mist-shrouded among North America's major pro sports, with the flash, cash, and reach of the sport of obscuring its humble -- and sometimes problematic -- early history. And at the core of the institutionalized racism that was ubiquitous in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) era was the so-called 'gentleman's agreement' that kept players of color off the floor.

But a trio of black players broke that color line at about the time the BAA became the NBA in the 1949-50 season. In April 1950, the Boston Celtics drafted Chuck Cooper, the first Black man to be so honored. A month later, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton would be the first Black man to sign an NBA contract. And six months after that, Earl Lloyd would be the first Black man to play in an NBA game. These three pioneers were recently portrayed in the film "Sweetwater," who, with Clifton as the story's protagonist, shed light on this key moment in the Association's history.

Currently being screened in the Boston Film Festival, CLNS Media's "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with the star of the film, Everett Osborne, and the son of Chuck Cooper, Chuck Cooper III, to talk about the film, how far the league has to go, and what yet still needs doing.

Join us for this important episode -- and if you're in the area, consider seeing the film in its screening at the festival this weekend.

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When news initially broke about the potential sale of the Boston Celtics, fans were still elated over their favorite ball club finally winning Banner 18. We collectively scratched our heads, and then moved on with our celebratory mood still in full effect, not quite digging into the story behind the story when it came to the Grousbeck family electing to sell their crown jewel for estate planning purposes. The mission was accomplished, and it made sense.

But this week, more news came to light that there may be a financial aspect to Wyc Grousbeck and family choosing to sell their ownership share in the team -- and that there may have been internal dissent over that spending in the family based on reporting from the New York Post's Josh Kosman and Brian Lewis.

Intrigued by these details, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with Kosman to talk about what he's heard and what he thinks about it to get to the bottom of what we actually know about the sale -- and more importantly, how it could impact the Celtics and the NBA in the future. What we found was some potential for positive outcomes in the short-term, but also for a future at the Boston and league-wide level that is far less certain.

Make sure you tune in to this important episode of the Celtics Lab podcast.

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Just how much playing time do we think each player on the Boston Celtics' roster ought to get next season? The Celtics have run it back with more or less the same roster they won Banner 18 with in the 2024 NBA Finals, but shifting expectations, father time, and injuries have conspired to through such a roster a few curveballs that won't just be a short-term concern for Boston's coaching staff to manage.

To try to answer the question of how the minutes ought to be distributed in an ideal scenario for Boston, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with NBC Sports Boston's Chris Forsberg to talk it over. The crew touches on which rookies and other deep rotation players might see their roles grow this season, who still isn't ready for prime time, and how Boston ought to handle the frontcourt while star big man Kristaps Porzingis heals up.

We also get into what little news is still percolating up ahead of the start of training camps later this month, so be sure to tune into this late summer episode of the Lab.

The Celtics Lab podcast is brought to you by Prize Picks and Gametime.

If you enjoy this pod, check out the "How Bout Them Celtics," "First to the Floor," "Celtics Lab," and the many other New England sports podcasts available on the CLNS Media network.

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With some time to soak it all in, we are just beginning to have had enough context to begin to place the Boston Celtics' 2024 NBA Championship in its proper place in terms of history. What will we remember about it in five, 10, or twenty years? Which were flashbulb moments along the path to Banner 18? Which will quickly be forgotten?

And most importantly, just how special is this title in light of the 17 that came before it? To take a look at the winning of Banner 18 and its historical context, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with the Boston Globe's Chad Finn to talk all things Celtics history. Finn will soon have a new book out that details all of the best moments in the history of the storied franchise through the pens of Globe reporters, from its founding to the most recent title, making him the ideal interlocutor for this mission.

We also get caught up on the trickle of news still percolating up at this late hour in the 2024 NBA offseason, from the Lonnie Walker IV signing to Jayson Tatum's China trip with Jordan Brand and more.

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Star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is the new cover athlete for NBA 2K25, gracing the newest iteration of the popular video game with WNBA star A'ja Wilson of the Los Vegas Aces. The first-ever cover to feature both an NBA and WNBA star, the summer of Tatum continues. The game itself will be out in September, but the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with NBA 2K spokesperson Ronnie "2K" Singh to get up to speed on the latest version of the game.

How was it made? what is different in this version? And what was the process like that led to Tatum being selected (hint -- it wasn't due to him winning the title with Boston, as these decisions are made many months in advance). We get to the bottom of all the above and more.

We also get caught up on the trickle of news still coming out in the so-called dog days of August, from new tunes and tattoos to recreating old photos and more.

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