Boston Celtics
“Tatum and Brown’s contracts limit the Celtics’ cheap, youthful, limited front line. That’s not good long term.”
Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, and Jayson Tatum Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
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The Knicks made it further than the Celtics in the playoffs. New York is playing in its first NBA Finals since 1999 and currently leads the San Antonio Spurs 1-0 in the series.
But, is New York set up for long-term success more than Boston? FS1’s Colin Cowherd argued that they are.
“The Celtics feel weird compared to the Knicks,” Cowherd said recently on “The Herd.” “The Knicks feel like a collective, the Celtics feel like weird. The Celtics are totally dependent on the three. The Knicks are middle of the pack. They can hit them, but they’re not dependent on them.”
The team-friendly contract that Jalen Brunson signed allows the Knicks a level of salary cap flexibility that the Celtics don’t have, Cowherd said.
“They have a player in Jalen Brunson, who, by the way only takes 20 percent of the cap and is beloved,” Cowherd said. “Their best quarter is the fourth. The Celtics worst quarter net rating is the fourth quarter, and [Jayson] Tatum and [Jaylen] Brown who I’m not sure like each other eat up 70 percent of the cap. They’ll be paying them $120 million next year.
“So, you get a team-friendly deal with Brunson and he is completely dependable in the fourth quarter. You get two player-friendly deals from players that don’t necessarily love each other in Boston eating 70 percent of the cap.
“Brunson’s contract allows for a big, expensive, talented front line. Tatum and Brown’s contracts limit the Celtics’ cheap, youthful, limited front line. That’s not good long term.”
Cowherd brought up some comments Brown made on a Twitch stream about this being his favorite season. Jayson Tatum missed the first three-quarters of the season and the Celtics won 56 games anyway. Brown finished sixth in the MVP voting.
“Jaylen Brown comes out and says this year was his favorite ever,” Cowherd said. “Oh, you mean the one where Tatum didn’t play most of it and you were bounced in the first round of the playoffs? That’s your best year ever? Not the title year?”
The Celtics had a higher playoff seed than the Knicks this year and they have one of the most accomplished duos in the league in Brown and Tatum.
But, the way the Knicks are structured could provide future advantages, Cowherd said.
“You have a team-friendly fourth-quarter quarterback who the players love,” Cowherd said. “Two his best teammates are Villanova guys, East Coast guys. Love each other. [Wednesday night] in the fourth quarter they just get out of the way for Brunson. There’s no confusion. It’s Brunson’s offense. They just get out of the way.
“The Celtics? It’s passive Tatum who gets weirdly insecure and disappears and aggressive Brown who says his favorite year was last year, the first round exit year.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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