Marc Bertrand: The quality about the Celtics that doesn’t get talked about enough
On Monday’s edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Marc “Beetle” Bertrand dove into the quality about this Celtics team that doesn’t get talked about enough.
This team is so different than it was 5 years ago…
Marc Bertrand:
I just look at the Celtics now and think about how different they feel from the Celtics of five years ago. From a professionalism standpoint, they have none of that nonsense. Is that appreciated enough about this team? They don’t have all the bull crap that typically comes with ego maniacal NBA superstars. They don’t have those guys.
Scott Zolak:
You really don’t. You’ve added actually good guys. Kristaps Porzingis is a good guy. Jrue Holiday is a good guy. How many times have we talked about him? The professionalism that he’s brought to this team and they eliminated Marcus Smart. Home run, home run, home run. That’s allowed these guys to grow.
Marc Bertrand:
And as I’ve said multiple times in recent weeks, the subtraction of Marcus Smart has helped in this regard. They are more professional as a group than they were a year ago. The clown show that was calling out the head coach in the middle of a playoff run about how he’s learning. I mean, you would never have a guy on this team doing that now. That would not happen. Marcus Smart did that to a coach who defends his players at every single turn. That’s what he does. He is not Ime Udoka. Ime used to call guys out at the podium, not Mazzulla’s style. And yet, here he was in the playoffs a year ago, getting called out by one of his players. So, I think they’re different from a year ago and I think they are universes apart from where they were five years ago. They are. It’s very different. You start bringing up some of this Kyrie stuff and you remember that. So, I’ll put stock in what Tatum said. There were lessons learned in that two-year window with Kyrie Irving.
Listen to the full segment!