Zolak & Bertrand: Stop with the Jayson Tatum MVP conversation
On Friday’s edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Ryan Johnston and Michael Holley asked for the MVP conversation surrounding Jayson Tatum to stop.
Can we focus on team accomplishments first?
R.J.: There’s such a focus tt feels like now around like Jason Tatum trying to win an MVP award. It almost sounds in some cases like a louder discussion than it is trying to win the championship with his team. Like he hasn’t won a title yet. Maybe let’s focus on that before we start talking about individual achievement. And this isn’t even on Tatum, by the way.
Holley: He’s being asked the questions.
R.J.: He’s being asked the questions and he was earlier this week again and he said, I think I’m the best player in the league. Fine. He thinks he’s the best player. I would disagree, I think a lot of people would. But he’s in the conversation.
Holley: As I said earlier this week, he’s a first team all-NBA guy. He’s been a first-team All-NBA guy the last 3 or 4 years. So if you go by that standard, there are five guys on that all-NBA first team. He’s one of the five. He’s in the conversation. If you still think Steph is the best, okay say Steph (Curry). You think (Nikola) Jokić is the best, okay that’s a conversation. (Joel) Embiid was the MVP last year. If you think it’s Embiid, I don’t. Luka (Doncic) is another first team all NBA guy. I mean it’s not really a hot take to say Jayson Tatum is the best. Whoever you pick as best, it’s not unanimous at this point. We’re not talking about peak LeBron like nobody’s there right now. We’re not talking about obviously peak Michael Jordan, Magic, Larry, we’re not there. We see a lot of really good talented players. But who’s number one? Okay, I say Jokic. Fine. You say Luka, all right. Where do we go with that?
R.J.: You know which MVP I care about? I care about the Finals MVP. That’s the one to me that matters because biggest stage in the sport, championship on the line, you’re the guy. Go win one of those and show off the Larry O’Brien trophy. That’s what impresses me. Listen, I don’t think Jason Tatum should be the MVP of the league, because I think the team around him is too good. He’s the top guy on this team. There’s no question about that. But when you have (Kristaps) Porzingis and you have Jaylen Brown and even Derrick White, who shows what he can do again last night. When have that level of team around you. You’re not exactly carrying the team on your back night in and night out throughout the season.
Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics during Game 7 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat at TD Garden. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Listen to the full segment!
Top 6 quotes from The Dynasty, Part 3
Bill Parcells on the circumstances leading up to his departure
Jan 26, 1997; New Orleans, LA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Parcells reacts on the sideline against the Green Bay Packers for Super Bowl XXXI at the Superdome. The Packers defeated the Patriots 35-21. Credit: USA TODAY Sports
Parcells: “We finally got some success [the 1996 Super Bowl appearance], but I felt like Kraft wasn’t always in line with the things that I knew to be in the best interest of building a team. Kraft had no real background in football, and in his inexperience, took the draft away from me and he gave it to somebody else. I felt like some people that were incompetent were making decisions for the organization personnel-wise, and I didn’t like it. And I knew I wasn’t going back to the Patriots.”
There’s a few things going on here. Parcells’ “shop for the groceries” comment is very well known, but directly calling out Kraft and the team’s NFL Draft process is a pretty direct shot. He also says he knew going into Super Bowl XXXI that he wouldn’t be returning to the Patriots.
Robert Kraft shares his side of Bill Parcells’ departure
FOXBORO, MA – SEPTEMBER 9: Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots looks on during the game between of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on September 9, 2002 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The Patriots won 31-14. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Kraft: “With Coach Parcells, I didn’t feel he always put [the] team first. He was making decisions that were best for Bill Parcells as opposed for the New England Patriots. I promised myself in the future I would find a coach that truly put team first.”
Robert Kraft shares his side of the story regarding Bill Parcells’ departure. This quote may also be seen as foreshadowing of his hire of Bill Belichick and the early days of the ‘Patriot Way.’
Bill Belichick gave Lawyer Milloy his room the week of Super Bowl XXXVI
Feb 3, 2002; New Orleans, LA, USA; New England Patriots defensive back Lawyer Milloy (36) and St. Louis Rams receiver Ricky Proehl (87) go up for a pass during Super Bowl XXXVI at the Louisiana Superdome. The Patriots defeated the Rams 20-17. Credit: USA TODAY Sports
Belichick: “Lawyer came over, and was upset about his room…”
Milloy: “We get to the hotel. My room was so small, I think it came with an oxygen tank.”
Belichick: “That was the furthest thing from my mind, and I just kind of said, ‘Lawyer, look, you can have the head coach’s room. I don’t really care. And if that’s not good enough for you, that’s the best I can do. Here you go.’ And so the rest of the week, it was kinda ‘Lawyer, is everything okay? Is your view okay? Your room good? You got enough space in there?’ And so we kinda joked about that all week.”
Damien Woody: “I think coach did that to kinda reemphasize team is always first. And it kind of just set the tone to get ready for what was coming.”
A fun story from what was a massive week in the grand scheme of things for the Patriots’ dynasty. Plus, less than two years after having this running joke with his defensive captain at the Super Bowl, Belichick would end up cutting Milloy days before the start of the 2003 regular season.
Tedy Bruschi credits Drew Bledsoe with starting the ‘Patriot Way’
9 Sep 2001: Quarterback Drew Bledsoe #11 of the New England Patriots looks on from the field during the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at the Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Bengals defeated the Patriots 23-17.Credit: Mark Lyons/Allsport
Bruschi: “Drew could have messed a lot of things up. But as frustrated as Drew was, he was still very supportive to Tom [Brady]. That meant a lot for me to see. All this stuff Belichick says, like doing your job and putting the team first, Drew was, like, living that. I mean, there’s a hundred-million-dollar quarterback doing what’s best for the team. That’s where I think the Patriot Way started.”
A common theme through the first three episodes of The Dynasty was the juxtaposition of the position Bledsoe was placed in by Belichick in 2001, and the way he continued to support the other players on the roster. There is no indication of any kind of fracture in the locker room. Bruschi really hammers that point home with this quote.
Ernie Adams explains the decision not to play for overtime at the end of Super Bowl XXXVI
03 Feb 2002: The New England Patriots huddle during Superbowl XXXVI at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Patriots defeated the Rams 20-17. Credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Adams: “We could have knelt on it and gone into sudden death overtime. But then Bill [Belichick] came on the headset and said ‘okay Ernie, what do you want to do?’ And I said ‘Bill, we’re a little bit out of gas. If they get the ball again, I’m not real sure we can stop ’em. I mean this drive, it’s do or die. We need to try to go get Adam Vinatieri a shot to win it for us here in regulation.'”
As John Madden was in the broadcast booth calling for the Patriots to go to overtime, this is what the coaching staff was discussing. It highlights Adams’ importance not just to the Patriots as a whole, but to Belichick specifically. In the biggest moment of the biggest game, he’s who Belichick turned to for one of the biggest decisions of the night.
What Bill Belichick said to Tom Brady the day after Super Bowl XXXVI
Feb 3, 2002; New Orleans, LA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) in action against the St. Louis Rams during Super Bowl XXXVI at the Louisiana Superdome. The Patriots defeated the Rams 20-17. Credit: USA TODAY Sports
Brady: “The next day I remember I got in the car and I remember coach Belichick – he got in and he was still fucked up from the night before. I could smell the alcohol. But I remember him saying to me ‘well, Tom, you had a pretty good year.’ And that was his way of complimenting me.”
Just a funny story. Drunk Bill Belichick giving Brady as much of a compliment as possible after he led what was at the time the most important drive in NFL history.
