Simmons and Scal talk NBA

[Interceptor]

Great sit-down with Simmons and Scal here. They talk about tons of Celtics stuff, KG, Rondo, Judas, etc. Really interesting, worth the hour and ten minute listen.

[fairweatherfan]

Partway through - pretty great so far.  Thanks for the link.  Scal's gonna be really successful in the media I think.  Smart, amiable dude.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I'm not much a fan of Simmons overall (though I enjoy reading his stuff), but I think he'll end up being great for ESPN Countdown. At the very least, we should get a bit more Celtic talk out of it.

[bdm860]

Wow great listen, TP to Interceptor.

This is my summed up version.

They talk about good chemistry guys.  Scal mentions how Eddie House showed him how to be a good chemistry guy.  Mentions House, Posey, Cassell, and PJ Brown were all great chemistry guys.

Talks about how he thinks the Celtics 2009 team was worse than 2008, but 2010 was better than 2008.

Thinks Rondo will win the MVP this year.

How Garnett has a switch, Garnett is only really intense during the game.  He’s watching Family Guy and making jokes 90 minutes before the game, but 60 minutes before he flips a switch, and it’s on till after the game is over.

Jason Kidd changed the Nets culture, Garnett changed the Celtics culture, Thibs changed the Bulls culture.

Derrick Rose doesn’t like the fact that Scal likes Rondo, Rondo doesn’t like the fact that Scal likes Rose.

Derrick Rose is the greatest athlete and hardest worked in the game Scal has ever played with.

Talked about the Ray/Rondo feud.  Ray should have just come out in the beginning and say I don’t fit in with these guys anymore, I want to do something different.  Ray’s role is a decoy because his guy can’t help off him, so you’re basically playing 4x4, and this is a huge help for the other guys, but that wasn’t good enough for Ray.  Rondo likes what Ray brings out on the floor, but he’s not going to force feed him shots to feed his ego.

Scal doesn’t get sports loyalty.  Nobody is going to work for Pepsi and then not take a better job at Coke.  Simmons says Ray Allen will get booed, Scal is kind of in disbelief saying how Ray did so many great things for Boston.

KG is the most hated opponent, but most loved teammate.

Shaq was the most dominate player, by far, during Scal’s time in the league. Scoffed when Simmons tried to put LeBron in the same sentence.

Talks about winning the championship.  Simmons asks if there were players he worried about the 48 hours after the game.  Scal laughs and says yes (but the laugh is more like, are you kidding me, of course there were DEFINITELY some guys I worried about).

Scal is working for Comcast till Jan 1st, then they’ll see if they want to keep him.  Thinks he has a lot of work to do to become a good sportscaster.  Doesn't sound like he thinks the gig is guaranteed.

Overall great listen, and mostly about the Celtics.  Scal has a great memory, remembers so many specifics that even some of us hardcore fans need to be reminded about. “In Game 6, we’re up by X, Kidd was guarding Ginobili and Stephen Jackson, then we subbed out Kerry Kittles for Luscious Harris, and then the Spurs go on a run, and we lose by 13." PJ Brown’s shots Game 7 ECF, KG making Big Baby cry.  Remembers who won the titles what year.  Sam Cassell tearing his hip muscle with the TWolves. 2002 ECF Game 4, Kidd had 3 charges. Just a great memory, and seems to know about everything that goes on in the league, not just about teams he was on or games he played in, but everything across the whole league.

[fairweatherfan]

Not that I had any doubts, but I liked hearing Scal confirm he was about 2.5 sheets to the wind during his post-championship press interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UUBC8NoQgA

[nostar]

I thorough enjoyed this. Can't get enough of bball geeking. TP!

[indeedproceed]

I also really really enjoyed this.

[JoT]

I actually listened to while thing and it was really good.
I liked hearing Scal speak and tell past stories in this interview. I hope he does well as an analyst.

[thirstyboots18]

I heard it yesterday, it is so worth listening to.  Very interesting.

[bfrombleacher]

Scal's description of Rondo is what everybody doesn't see. He just wants to get the ball in the whole. He just wants to gain possession of the ball on defense.

Edit:

And Scal sheds light on the whole Ray Allen situation very nicely.

Great great career decision by Scal.

Edit 2:

And Simmons is spot on too.

[TripleOT]

They need to replace Donny Marshall with Scal.  Marshall brings nothing to the table as a commentator and doesn't have any connection to the Celtics, unless you count him sitting on the Nets bench while the two teams played back in the day.

Interesting comment on how Thibs changed the Bulls culture - not an easy thing for a guy with no NBA pedigree as a player and no cachet as an NBA head coach when he took that job.

I always felt that Thibs was under appreciated as an assistant in Boston.   

[BudweiserCeltic]

I always felt that Thibs was under appreciated as an assistant in Boston.   

No way, I thought he was beyond appreciated as an assistant here in Boston, or don't you recall all the credit he was given for his defense, at the expense of giving Doc any, and how worried people became when he left about what was going to happen to our defense?

He might have been under appreciated in previous teams, but no chance that was the case here.