December 10, 2024 • 28 mins
Sam Cassell has won four NBA championships spanning 30-plus years in the NBA. He’s played with multiple MVPs (Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Garnett). He’s coached an MVP (Joel Embiid) and multiple MVP candidates (Jayson Tatum, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul). When we suggest that when he speaks, you should listen, we mean it. Cassell describes the experiences of winning four championships and what set the 2024 title apart, including being the first person to greet Jayson Tatum in the locker room with a champagne shower. He also discusses what it’s like working with Joe Mazzulla, what makes Jayson Tatum such a special player to coach and what makes him ready for an NBA head coaching job right now.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to season five of you from the rafters. Behind
the scenes with the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We're sitting here having these conversations.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Which one sticks out to you? What do we craft?
Or we just want a championship? That probably happens a lot.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
We do this every year.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Right, this is hard, bro, Thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I never thought of it that way. Be a part
of that winning atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
All right, we are here with Celtics assistant coach, four
time NBA champion and most importantly, in my opinion, one
of the best storytellers in the history of Sam Kassel
Sam four titles.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Is that crazy to even think about it?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I mean, the spanning over like thirty years from when
you grabbed your first to grabbing the one last year.
How do you even kind of conceptualize what you've been
able to accomplish in your career with all this jewelry.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It never gets old, man, It's never gets old.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
And I tell people all the time, people always ask me,
what's the best ring? I said, the last one, the
last one, because you never can be symple that failing
and one of the duck boats, you know, seeing all
the people you know, Like I told Jason Team on Olympics.
(01:09):
I said, Jason, I never want a gold medal in
my life, but it can't be better than what we
experienced winning that championship in that parade.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It can't be that.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Maybe it is to some people, but you know, actioning
guys who have one gold medals and winning the NBA
Championship and all them telling me it's not a comparison.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Not a comparison.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
So me winning, having the opportunity to win four championships,
it's it's unbelievable. Like like I said, it never gets old.
The feeling is, it's crazy. It's the words really can't
describe it. You know, coming to the league in nineteen
ninety three, winning my first two years in the league
and taking twelve years you know, not winning, and coming
(01:55):
to Boston eight winning and winning it last year.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
It was just it's just amazing.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
And man, it's just amazing just to be a part
of that that winning atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Did the rings grow in size every time?
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Oh yeah, oh absolutely, we got we got pinky, We
got gainst the.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Pinky brings my first two years in the Leader. Now
we're getting that.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
That thing was like a basketball that you got.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
It was awesome just to just to see it and
just to put it on. Like you know, you get
a ring man and the commissioner gives you your ring.
It's just like wow again, I have four of them,
so it's it's amazing. It never gets old, it never
gets old. Hopefully we could do it again this year.
(02:38):
That'd be awesome too, just to parade. It's the best
thing about it.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh my god, that was yes.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
But I was lucky enough to be in the locker
room with you for the celebration last year.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
You're yes, you did. No one knows how much of
that champagne burns. Everybody wanted to burn.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It burns.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
But there's no.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No goggles for you.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
She was like, hello, on, no, here it comes.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
I enjoyed thoroughly. But there's no doubt you were enjoying yourself.
How different was it though, from when you're a player
and when you're a coach.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
The feeling is still saying.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
I just think that because we we went together, we
lose together. And I don't look at it as I'm
a coaching or I'm a player. Right now in my
life right now, you know, I was celebrating with Jason Tatum.
I'm the first one when Jason Tatum became a locker
room at this champagne bottle because I knew that people
moved the goal posts on this kid so much. They
(03:34):
still are and that's the story of his life right now,
you know. But he has a great life about it
the way quite well for itself. So I was the
first one to pull a Champagne on him because I
worked with Jason Titton last year. You know, I was
just that development coach and just that satisfaction that he
finally on the mountaintop, on the mountaintop, I just poured
(03:56):
it on him. I said, man, this is for you, man,
like you deserve everything. This whole moment, it's all about
you and the Boston Celtics man. And it was a
great It was a great time that when we see
him with his friends and family, with his rest of
his teammates, just enjoying this, enjoying that night.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
You know, no, yeah, Jason letting loose. We don't get
to see.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
That manage number one. God, But champagne. You know, it's just.
Speaker 6 (04:28):
Uh and something that can never take away.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
You never can take it away, man, Just just I
frame every time I win the championship and I have
a champagne bath.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I always framed that outfit I have on I had
really always.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Do you wash it?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
No, I don't wash it.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You frame it.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
I frame everything that hang hanging in my house. Yeah,
frame it.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
What was the outfit?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I mean it looks a lot like this black at
the black a.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Little differently than the other ones.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, Jersey's on, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
So the whole thing I just framed them and in
somebody my first year, I wanted you still I had
it in the trash bag. My jersey in the trash bag.
So you still see the meal dose things.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
On jersey. You're not wearing that thing. It's in the frame.
I know if I open the frame, I know it
probably smells a little bit.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
But it's just fantastic times when winning when when is everything?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
You know what I'm saying, especially in this organization.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
You know, damn, how crazy is it that you wanted
your rookie season and then again the very next season,
and now thirty years later, knowing.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
How hard that is to do.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
What do you think about when you look back at
those championships versus now.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
It's just it's it's unreal sometimes that I'm a lucky
guy first and foremost, because to win championships, you know,
win four of them, you have to have some kind
of luck, you know. And coming to lead my first
two years and winning it was like, wow, this was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
All about it.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
I do this every year, right, And then I went
twelve years winning it again, and tell your story my
first few years I won. I come in to the
locker room. I see like a king Lodge one oldest
though Kenny Smith, all the guys crying, teams and as
a kid, you win the championship, no one cries, and
I said, what the.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Hell they crying from?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Like we had the champagne and I couldn't understand it.
And my second year I did the same thing and
everybody crying again, like Clyde Dress was crying. He went
thirteen years and I win it, and I swear now
you fast forward twelve years later and we win a
championship in Boston and I'm hugging Kevin. I found myself crying,
(06:39):
like I'm like, what the hell is he's crying?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Because I'm crying.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Like after perspective, it's like Paul Crime, very crime.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
We all crying, like, like, what are we crying for?
We just want a championship.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
You know, it's the moment that you have and the
times that it works so hard to get wampionships.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
People think it's easy.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
It's one of the most difficult things to do in
the game of basketball, especially on our level, because you're
playing through all four seasons of the year. You know,
when it's hot outside, everybody having a good time, you know,
going a happy hour, you're getting you're going home, getting
some rest for the next night.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
So it was kind of people don't understand the aspect
of it, the mental aspect of it. You know, it's cold,
then it's you know, get a little warmer. Then in
June it's kind of hot outside.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
Said the parade was pretty warm, scorching, perfect day.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Perfect.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
It has been awesome. And in our fans in Boston
just like that was crazy.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
One of two championships in Houston, and you know, people,
I was you compare the fans. Houston has their own
style of Hollo fans, but these fancy are many accident
championship and trust we appreciated, you know, as a coach
and as a player, I have I've done both here.
You know what I'm saying, and it gets it gets better.
(08:05):
Paul Pierson on the duck boat with me and said,
was our championship?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
This this good?
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I'm saying absolutely not. The people a pain. It's I
don't remember, I said, I do, But it wasn't like this.
This was crazy people throwing bottles of champagne and beer
tours and it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So I keep it amazing and I.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
Was on the last duck boat and the energy was
still another.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
We had the first A trophy, then j T and
JP had the other trophy. It was just crazy. It
was just crazy, man. That was Boston.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Keep it up the way the way I explained it
to people who asked me of like what did it
feel like that day? It literally felt like electricity was
being plugged into you for the entire route. That was
like what was in an hour and a half, almost
two hours that route. But it's it's different than the
in game environment because it's it's not nineteen thousand people.
(09:03):
It's literally like millions of fans all screaming the entire
time and it just never stopped. So that's how I
kind of explained, It's like electricity being plugged into you
for two straight hours.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
I think anybody episode with nineteen was drunk. Oh yeah,
oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
There were beers flying and the cops were like laughing
at it. I was like, this is how it's supposed
to be.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I had one guy had a macna bob of champagne.
He was trying to throw.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
It was no wasted, no break. No.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
We have with Grossbeck to thank for that too.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Though.
Speaker 6 (09:39):
The tequila that was in every single dufboat it was this.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Gold, huge, beautiful bottle and that was Koro.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
That was the moment that I will remember forever is
Mike Gorman just taking shots straight from the bottle of sincoro.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Just amazing, Just.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
Seeing Jeff Twist on the duck boat with us and
just saying like he'd been through.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
This a few times.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
You've got four.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Now he's been through this, and just seeing him just
sit back and just observe everything that's going on, just
his smile face and just like wow, Wow, this is
this is awesome man, Just seeing him, Just seeing a
guy like that being able to organization for many, many years,
seeing him enjoying it.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
It's still enjoying it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You got five now, I said four. I think it's
five now, actually yeah, six, He's got all the ones
in the eighties.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And then and then to see him enjoying the parade
and the success we haven't this, organizations have it, and
him sitting back just smiling like like I've been.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Through this before, saying like I said, Jeff I said,
twist doesn't get old, never gets old like this, especially
in this town.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So we've talked a little bit about it.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
There's a bunch of time between your first one and
then your most recent one. There's got to be some
common thread between each of the four experiences. Is there
anything that if someone were to ask you, like, what,
what is the one thing that you saw in every
single championship run that is kind of like common between
(11:09):
the four? Is there anything that stands out to you?
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yes, one thing stands out to me most collectively as
a group, from the players to coaches, the PR department,
everyone's together, everyone's together, everyone is fighting for the same thing,
is to bring a championship to that city. And it's
different here, Like I sure say it's different here, It's
(11:34):
really different.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
It's really different.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
Just you know, in the NBA Finals, our fans, it's
ten thousand people two hours before when the gate opened up,
there's two thousand to four thousand to five thousand people
in the arena watching the guys.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Pre already let you go.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
You know what I'm saying, Like my last year playing
here as a player eight, and I was getting maybe
eight minutes of nine minutes a night, And people in
the stance had posters of men Scylabrini used to play
a one on one game every day and some people
were for scout and win and some people will be
the win.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
So it was just like that, and man, scout always
got to kick about that.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
The scouts to cheat me all the time, shocking thirty
minutes warming up. As soon as I come on the
court to get my warm up, he'd be like, I'm
going to check the ball up.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Let's play.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You get three shots, you get three shots, got damn
three shots. Then they had checked the ball down. We live.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
It's like, that's not fan Scott a deep sweat. I'm
just I'm the oldest guy on the team. Now you
want to play me like that. But that's how it was.
But but it's just the atmosphere of it, man, And
that's the things I see. It is common that the
whole organization. It's on the same page.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Where does that come from?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Starts up top, It starts up top.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
I think it starts with brands far as the Boston
Celtics and Joe Missoula, who people just don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
He always getting us together. They definitely not.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Now always he's always getting us together as a staff
in Plass. He's never separated the staff and the coaches
because we're a family. We went together, we lose together.
He never like it's the players fault or it's the
coach's fault.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Sometimes he's hard on us as a staff, hard on
the Plass, but we he does it the right way,
does it the right way for us.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
You've said that coaches locker room is different than anything
you've been a part of us.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
It's different. It's different. I've been coached sixteen years. It's
you got you gotta be a part of our staff.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
I can't. I can't give all our things we do
around here.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
But you give us some just like a little snippet.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Well, it's kind of we relax.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
We prepare hard, to prepare our team to play hard,
and some nice you know, we get great results. Well
ninety nice we get great results, but it's not the
ordinary locker room coaches lock put it that way.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
A lot of competitive guys in that room.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
We have a great time. Were all on the same page.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
If I disagree with something that one of the coaches
doing and it's nothing, it's not like, well, I'm not
into it. Joe has the ultimate decision. I think he's going,
We're doing what Sam says, We're doing it. We're doing
what d Max says, We're doing it. So that's how
it is.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
We just and go with with Joe says, just like that.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
That's one of the interesting things that I think people
might forget is that, like last year was your first
season here and like you're you're just getting to know
the players, you're just getting to know the coaches from
the moment that you got here. Well maybe not for
training camp, you got to associate yourself during the summer
a little bit. But what was that like of kind
of like integrating yourself into It's a new practice facility,
(14:48):
not the one that you had when you were here
as a player. That's for damn sure, new coaching staff
that you're working around, new president of basketball operations, new players.
So what was that experience of kind of like diving in.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
It was welcome. I think the thing that Joe did,
all the things that he was weakend. He added to
a staff that I had a great relationship with, plans,
understood how the players function on and off the court.
You know, he needed me to help him with that
aspect of it. Now, Charlslee added something else. D Mac
(15:24):
added something else, Tony added something else. Guy's behind the
bench added something else.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So Joe looks like everyone's complimenting each other.
Speaker 5 (15:31):
Call him in each other and compliment him, you know,
just compliment in him. And he's he's been phenomenal to
work with. Like I said, a lot of people in
the public eye don't understand and don't know him because
he's not a household NBA name. He didn't grow up
twenty years in this business. But he's a magnificent coach.
(15:53):
But he's a magnificent person, better person than coaching. Why
do you say that I treat people his relationship with
everyone on the staff. I think every morning Joe walks
in this building and and diversity trying to speak to
everybody that's in this building.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And you don't get that.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
A lot of places that the head coach walks around
and say hello to everyone.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
He's done a really good job actually coming to the
Downtown office and being a part of our staff meetings.
You were at the Partner Ctare the summit off the
season last year, like you were there, he was there.
He's done a really good job of kind of integrating
himself into the whole organization.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Not just don't know everybody that works for the Celtics,
but he has touched everyone for the Celtics.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I guarantee you that.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You said that you understand the players. Can you kind
of elaborate on that a little bit?
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Understanding plans? And people think that players only life is
on the basketball court. You know, players have lost off
the court too, and sometimes can sometimes can affect you
performance on the.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Court, you know.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
And I been because they're human.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
They're human. People think that.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
People forget that.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
I think that, like we had a bad game against
Atlanta Hawks and and people think that can't happen.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
It can't happen, people, it can't happen.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
No one has a bit Like tell me a person
that has a job that don't have a bad moment
at that job that they off just totally off I
like the media. If they don't like that, I like
the meeting, so they give me the I want to
meet him to get that recipe. We had a bad night,
and the thing that Joe does, we move forward. We
(17:44):
understand why we we faced the problem, why that night happened.
We face it and you know, he gets on us
as the staff, and he gets on the plass as players,
and we just get through it. We get the best
thing about He gets over things fast. He gets sold
things fast. Now the special it ain't fast to me
(18:05):
is a couple of hours. It might take him a
night in him sitting down praying on it, but he's
gonna get over get over it. The next day is
like okay, that's you know, the new day. Let's get
better like the day we have practice. We got better today.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Fans, can you listen to this of like moving on
from maybe a bad night that happens every now and then.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Let's not get caught up in half is people, it happened.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
No one's perfect.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
We just want to be the strongest, the longest.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Love that's matter.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Love it damn.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
From the moment you got here, though, you went straight
to work with Jason Tatum, did you ask for that
or is that something that Joe wanted you to do?
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Just No, I asked what I wanted it and Joe
gave it to me. And the thing that people don't
understand about Jason Tatum, he's a very very coachable guy.
He you know, like he allowed me to coach him
hard and sometimes I had some hard conversations with him.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
So I knew that he wanted to be a champion.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
You know, you share any of those No, not not necessarily, like,
but I can't.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
Well, there's some things we spoke about that some things
that I needed him to do better on the basketball court,
and he actually tries to do it. You know, some
things we work on in practice, he actually try to
get it done. And that's the comment to him. Because Tatum,
let's not good at twisting. He's one of the top
five players.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
In the world and we are seeing that this season
in the world top five.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
He's three times first team, might be three times in
a row. So you don't get no better than that
for a guy like that. But he allowed me to
coach them. I have worked with some great players I
work with. I played with Kamagne, when I played with
the Kima lodger On. I coached Joelenbi when he was
the MVP. I coached the lists, so I say, I
(19:55):
see success. I know how success looks.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I know.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
And he allowed me to voiced my opinion towards him
about his game.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Now.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
He had to because he was the first team All
Pro before I got here, you know. And I just
told it con change that you have to do A,
B and.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
C and and big ups to them. He did it.
He did it.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
He allowed me to coach him hard. Sometimes I get
frustrated with him. And then I watched the film. I said,
it wasn't that bad.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
So I never.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
Because but you also know what he's capable of, and
so you want him to reach that.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
I never go off my emotions right after the game,
so I said, let me watch the film. Even though
he might have some bad moments in the games. I
never was like like god, damn it this and that.
I said, let me watch the film. Did I watch it?
Then I said, Okay, it wasn't that bad, but let's
work on this, A, B and C. And I short
to him. He listened to it. He like, let's get
(20:53):
the work.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Did you expect that when you walked in the door.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Yes, yes, yes, because I you know, the league is
a small lead, it's a big league, is a small league.
And everybody that has worked with Jason told me that, man,
you go love working with the kid.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Interesting.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
He's gonna work hard, he's he's good and if you
put your little bit of your your tough mentality, not
giving a damn mentality towards him, he'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
As they say, what reputation proceeds just myself, that's right,
that's right.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
How much of it with him is mentality? And you
want him to have that killer instinct.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
He has it, he has it, he has it, but
we have we have a good team that he don't
have to do everything.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
And the thing that.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
Thirty plus he have thirty plus points give me for last,
so people don't give him credit to sacrificing. He's dead,
gets getting drew holiday. He gave up seven shots to night. Yeah,
seven shots to night. And this league a lot of
points and a lot of guys don't want to give
us seven shots some night. So you know I call
them and him all the time for that. That okay,
(22:00):
if we're playing pick more basketball and they switched a
small guy on pazingis he's unselfish enough to gifting the
ball and that goes a lot, says a lot about
him as a basketball player.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
That he's growing and he's still twenty.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
It's crazy.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
How do you coach court vision because it's obviously something
that is innate to you. How do you communicate that
but then also teach it to someone who's bigger than
you and can see over have to wear any glass.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
We're getting sponsors lefton right, So.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
He has it.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
He has the vision, you know. We call it scanning
around here. He has the ability to scan, make the
right decision, to make the right reads. He just gotta
just go do it. Also, we don't want him to
be unaggressive. We want him to be at tack moo
every time you get the ball. But being in at
tackmo sometimes sometimes called for a past it does a
(23:10):
great job for that. So I have no problem. Our
team has no problem Jason Tatum, you know, passing the ball,
scoring the ball. We just want him to be Jason Tatum.
That's all. He's ours. We love having him. He's a
big part of this whole Boston Celtics franchise him. JB KP, Drew, Holiday,
(23:31):
de White, Peyton. You know we're a team. This is
the team. You know, our coaching staff were a team.
We have a great time together, but we work hard,
work extremely hard.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
People don't know how much time goes in with the
coaching staff behind those doors.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Oh my gosh, ours.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Right now, Joe with Jason Tatum right now, watch the
film right now, you know, so.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
That someone had to put together who spent two hours
watching the game from multiple angles and then we.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
All watched the same game but seeing differently, you know.
And that's the thing that Joe always allows us to do.
Like you talked to him today, Sam, you coached you
coach team today, d Mac you coaching so we all
get a chance to coach you. And the good thing
about him, he accepts it. And that's the key. That's interesting,
that's the key.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
What wait, what is your favorite thing that Joe's put
up in a film? Sessions?
Speaker 6 (24:20):
So many we've heard some crazy things, I know, That's
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
I don't know too many things about soccer.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
I don't know too much because I don't know too
much about soccer, and he loves soccer. You know, he
might put a soccer match on and I'm watching it
like I see the ball, the goal. I don't know
the positions small forward, forward, I don't know any positions
in soccer.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
And every day he tried to teach me. I didn't
know they had plays in soccer.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
Yeah, actually got plays.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I don't know. I have no idea, no clue about soccer.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
That's because you're an NBA lifer.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
Got about soccer, a little about tennis, football, SOCCA. Going
up with Baltimore, we only have too many soccer fields and.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
It was all ball, all ball.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Listen, We've we've talked a lot about Joe and someday
you're going to be Joe. I know that you've got
aspirations to be a head coach. You've interviewed for head
coaching jobs.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
We have heard it.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I mean people are calling in the media for Sam
Cassell needs a head coaching job.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
When is that going to happen?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
And why do you have aspirations to reach that level
and being able to make an imprint on an organization
with you leading the way.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
I'm not going to do it. I had enough training,
I'm ready. I just need the opportunity, an opportunity to come.
No for a fact, I'll be a good head coach.
I understand people, understand how organization supposed to work, Understand
how organizations supposed to look. I understand who I need
(26:00):
to help me. I can't do it by myself. I
understand the caliber people I need to be a successful
head coach.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I mean, you win for championships, you kind of understand.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
I say, I just need opportunity to come. It come,
and when it comes, I'm going around with it like Joe.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Right now, there's no fact or that, there's no questioning
that it's going to win on But you are the
guys who you have served as an assistant for. What
will you take from each of those guys and kind
of implement to your coaching style When I mean, I
know you've already got your coaching style, but as a
head coach, whenever that day does come, what will you
take from the well?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
The game is so different right now. When I first
came to league, because we could do a whole podcast
just the coaches, was like.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Shoot around every morning practice for three hours.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
It was like that.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
And now the game is so different because the game
has changed. The game has changed for the betterment of
the game. Of basketball. I wish I could play in
this right now.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Do you think you'd be Yeah, you didn't shoot the three.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Though, sad it was awesome.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
I could shoot it if I had the opportunity to
shoot when I wanted to shoot the basketball. But the
game has suspended and it's a great basketball game right now.
So just me finding the right pieces to put in
place make me better, and I think my staff would
make me better, and I make my staff better, So
(27:36):
that's the key.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Well, I can't I know, you can't wait for that data.
We can't wait for that day to come. Everyone who
you've coached can't wait for it. They know that it's
supposed to come, and it's going to happen. It's just
a matter of when and where.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
He's ready.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, I mean four titles, already hoping for a fifth
this year, and something tells me that that common thread
that we talked about earlier, you're going to bring it
to whatever organization you wind up with.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
We're looking forward to it. Hey, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
We appreciate the time, and uh.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Good luck to try to get a number five. You're
getting you're getting pretty close to having, like the Bill
Russell Photo with all all the rings.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
That would be awesome, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
We got to get a fifth and you got a
whole hand.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
That'd be awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
All right, thank you, Sam MHM
Welcome to season five of you from the rafters. Behind
the scenes with the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We're sitting here having these conversations.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Which one sticks out to you? What do we craft?
Or we just want a championship? That probably happens a lot.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
We do this every year.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Right, this is hard, bro, Thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I never thought of it that way. Be a part
of that winning atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
All right, we are here with Celtics assistant coach, four
time NBA champion and most importantly, in my opinion, one
of the best storytellers in the history of Sam Kassel
Sam four titles.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Is that crazy to even think about it?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I mean, the spanning over like thirty years from when
you grabbed your first to grabbing the one last year.
How do you even kind of conceptualize what you've been
able to accomplish in your career with all this jewelry.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It never gets old, man, It's never gets old.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
And I tell people all the time, people always ask me,
what's the best ring? I said, the last one, the
last one, because you never can be symple that failing
and one of the duck boats, you know, seeing all
the people you know, Like I told Jason Team on Olympics.
(01:09):
I said, Jason, I never want a gold medal in
my life, but it can't be better than what we
experienced winning that championship in that parade.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It can't be that.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Maybe it is to some people, but you know, actioning
guys who have one gold medals and winning the NBA
Championship and all them telling me it's not a comparison.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Not a comparison.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
So me winning, having the opportunity to win four championships,
it's it's unbelievable. Like like I said, it never gets old.
The feeling is, it's crazy. It's the words really can't
describe it. You know, coming to the league in nineteen
ninety three, winning my first two years in the league
and taking twelve years you know, not winning, and coming
(01:55):
to Boston eight winning and winning it last year.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
It was just it's just amazing.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
And man, it's just amazing just to be a part
of that that winning atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Did the rings grow in size every time?
Speaker 5 (02:07):
Oh yeah, oh absolutely, we got we got pinky, We
got gainst the.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Pinky brings my first two years in the Leader. Now
we're getting that.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
That thing was like a basketball that you got.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
It was awesome just to just to see it and
just to put it on. Like you know, you get
a ring man and the commissioner gives you your ring.
It's just like wow again, I have four of them,
so it's it's amazing. It never gets old, it never
gets old. Hopefully we could do it again this year.
(02:38):
That'd be awesome too, just to parade. It's the best
thing about it.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh my god, that was yes.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
But I was lucky enough to be in the locker
room with you for the celebration last year.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
You're yes, you did. No one knows how much of
that champagne burns. Everybody wanted to burn.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It burns.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
But there's no.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No goggles for you.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
She was like, hello, on, no, here it comes.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
I enjoyed thoroughly. But there's no doubt you were enjoying yourself.
How different was it though, from when you're a player
and when you're a coach.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
The feeling is still saying.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
I just think that because we we went together, we
lose together. And I don't look at it as I'm
a coaching or I'm a player. Right now in my
life right now, you know, I was celebrating with Jason Tatum.
I'm the first one when Jason Tatum became a locker
room at this champagne bottle because I knew that people
moved the goal posts on this kid so much. They
(03:34):
still are and that's the story of his life right now,
you know. But he has a great life about it
the way quite well for itself. So I was the
first one to pull a Champagne on him because I
worked with Jason Titton last year. You know, I was
just that development coach and just that satisfaction that he
finally on the mountaintop, on the mountaintop, I just poured
(03:56):
it on him. I said, man, this is for you, man,
like you deserve everything. This whole moment, it's all about
you and the Boston Celtics man. And it was a
great It was a great time that when we see
him with his friends and family, with his rest of
his teammates, just enjoying this, enjoying that night.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
You know, no, yeah, Jason letting loose. We don't get
to see.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
That manage number one. God, But champagne. You know, it's just.
Speaker 6 (04:28):
Uh and something that can never take away.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
You never can take it away, man, Just just I
frame every time I win the championship and I have
a champagne bath.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I always framed that outfit I have on I had
really always.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Do you wash it?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
No, I don't wash it.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You frame it.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
I frame everything that hang hanging in my house. Yeah,
frame it.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
What was the outfit?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I mean it looks a lot like this black at
the black a.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Little differently than the other ones.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, Jersey's on, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
So the whole thing I just framed them and in
somebody my first year, I wanted you still I had
it in the trash bag. My jersey in the trash bag.
So you still see the meal dose things.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
On jersey. You're not wearing that thing. It's in the frame.
I know if I open the frame, I know it
probably smells a little bit.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
But it's just fantastic times when winning when when is everything?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
You know what I'm saying, especially in this organization.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
You know, damn, how crazy is it that you wanted
your rookie season and then again the very next season,
and now thirty years later, knowing.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
How hard that is to do.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
What do you think about when you look back at
those championships versus now.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
It's just it's it's unreal sometimes that I'm a lucky
guy first and foremost, because to win championships, you know,
win four of them, you have to have some kind
of luck, you know. And coming to lead my first
two years and winning it was like, wow, this was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
All about it.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
I do this every year, right, And then I went
twelve years winning it again, and tell your story my
first few years I won. I come in to the
locker room. I see like a king Lodge one oldest
though Kenny Smith, all the guys crying, teams and as
a kid, you win the championship, no one cries, and
I said, what the.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Hell they crying from?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Like we had the champagne and I couldn't understand it.
And my second year I did the same thing and
everybody crying again, like Clyde Dress was crying. He went
thirteen years and I win it, and I swear now
you fast forward twelve years later and we win a
championship in Boston and I'm hugging Kevin. I found myself crying,
(06:39):
like I'm like, what the hell is he's crying?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Because I'm crying.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Like after perspective, it's like Paul Crime, very crime.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
We all crying, like, like, what are we crying for?
We just want a championship.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
You know, it's the moment that you have and the
times that it works so hard to get wampionships.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
People think it's easy.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
It's one of the most difficult things to do in
the game of basketball, especially on our level, because you're
playing through all four seasons of the year. You know,
when it's hot outside, everybody having a good time, you know,
going a happy hour, you're getting you're going home, getting
some rest for the next night.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
So it was kind of people don't understand the aspect
of it, the mental aspect of it. You know, it's cold,
then it's you know, get a little warmer. Then in
June it's kind of hot outside.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
Said the parade was pretty warm, scorching, perfect day.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Perfect.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
It has been awesome. And in our fans in Boston
just like that was crazy.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
One of two championships in Houston, and you know, people,
I was you compare the fans. Houston has their own
style of Hollo fans, but these fancy are many accident
championship and trust we appreciated, you know, as a coach
and as a player, I have I've done both here.
You know what I'm saying, and it gets it gets better.
(08:05):
Paul Pierson on the duck boat with me and said,
was our championship?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
This this good?
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I'm saying absolutely not. The people a pain. It's I
don't remember, I said, I do, But it wasn't like this.
This was crazy people throwing bottles of champagne and beer
tours and it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So I keep it amazing and I.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
Was on the last duck boat and the energy was
still another.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
We had the first A trophy, then j T and
JP had the other trophy. It was just crazy. It
was just crazy, man. That was Boston.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Keep it up the way the way I explained it
to people who asked me of like what did it
feel like that day? It literally felt like electricity was
being plugged into you for the entire route. That was
like what was in an hour and a half, almost
two hours that route. But it's it's different than the
in game environment because it's it's not nineteen thousand people.
(09:03):
It's literally like millions of fans all screaming the entire
time and it just never stopped. So that's how I
kind of explained, It's like electricity being plugged into you
for two straight hours.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
I think anybody episode with nineteen was drunk. Oh yeah,
oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
There were beers flying and the cops were like laughing
at it. I was like, this is how it's supposed
to be.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I had one guy had a macna bob of champagne.
He was trying to throw.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
It was no wasted, no break. No.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
We have with Grossbeck to thank for that too.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Though.
Speaker 6 (09:39):
The tequila that was in every single dufboat it was this.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Gold, huge, beautiful bottle and that was Koro.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
That was the moment that I will remember forever is
Mike Gorman just taking shots straight from the bottle of sincoro.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Just amazing, Just.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
Seeing Jeff Twist on the duck boat with us and
just saying like he'd been through.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
This a few times.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
You've got four.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Now he's been through this, and just seeing him just
sit back and just observe everything that's going on, just
his smile face and just like wow, Wow, this is
this is awesome man, Just seeing him, Just seeing a
guy like that being able to organization for many, many years,
seeing him enjoying it.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
It's still enjoying it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You got five now, I said four. I think it's
five now, actually yeah, six, He's got all the ones
in the eighties.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And then and then to see him enjoying the parade
and the success we haven't this, organizations have it, and
him sitting back just smiling like like I've been.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Through this before, saying like I said, Jeff I said,
twist doesn't get old, never gets old like this, especially
in this town.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So we've talked a little bit about it.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
There's a bunch of time between your first one and
then your most recent one. There's got to be some
common thread between each of the four experiences. Is there
anything that if someone were to ask you, like, what,
what is the one thing that you saw in every
single championship run that is kind of like common between
(11:09):
the four? Is there anything that stands out to you?
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yes, one thing stands out to me most collectively as
a group, from the players to coaches, the PR department,
everyone's together, everyone's together, everyone is fighting for the same thing,
is to bring a championship to that city. And it's
different here, Like I sure say it's different here, It's
(11:34):
really different.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
It's really different.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
Just you know, in the NBA Finals, our fans, it's
ten thousand people two hours before when the gate opened up,
there's two thousand to four thousand to five thousand people
in the arena watching the guys.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Pre already let you go.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
You know what I'm saying, Like my last year playing
here as a player eight, and I was getting maybe
eight minutes of nine minutes a night, And people in
the stance had posters of men Scylabrini used to play
a one on one game every day and some people
were for scout and win and some people will be
the win.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
So it was just like that, and man, scout always
got to kick about that.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
The scouts to cheat me all the time, shocking thirty
minutes warming up. As soon as I come on the
court to get my warm up, he'd be like, I'm
going to check the ball up.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Let's play.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You get three shots, you get three shots, got damn
three shots. Then they had checked the ball down. We live.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
It's like, that's not fan Scott a deep sweat. I'm
just I'm the oldest guy on the team. Now you
want to play me like that. But that's how it was.
But but it's just the atmosphere of it, man, And
that's the things I see. It is common that the
whole organization. It's on the same page.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Where does that come from?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Starts up top, It starts up top.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
I think it starts with brands far as the Boston
Celtics and Joe Missoula, who people just don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
He always getting us together. They definitely not.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Now always he's always getting us together as a staff
in Plass. He's never separated the staff and the coaches
because we're a family. We went together, we lose together.
He never like it's the players fault or it's the
coach's fault.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Sometimes he's hard on us as a staff, hard on
the Plass, but we he does it the right way,
does it the right way for us.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
You've said that coaches locker room is different than anything
you've been a part of us.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
It's different. It's different. I've been coached sixteen years. It's
you got you gotta be a part of our staff.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
I can't. I can't give all our things we do
around here.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
But you give us some just like a little snippet.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Well, it's kind of we relax.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
We prepare hard, to prepare our team to play hard,
and some nice you know, we get great results. Well
ninety nice we get great results, but it's not the
ordinary locker room coaches lock put it that way.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
A lot of competitive guys in that room.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
We have a great time. Were all on the same page.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
If I disagree with something that one of the coaches
doing and it's nothing, it's not like, well, I'm not
into it. Joe has the ultimate decision. I think he's going,
We're doing what Sam says, We're doing it. We're doing
what d Max says, We're doing it. So that's how
it is.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
We just and go with with Joe says, just like that.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
That's one of the interesting things that I think people
might forget is that, like last year was your first
season here and like you're you're just getting to know
the players, you're just getting to know the coaches from
the moment that you got here. Well maybe not for
training camp, you got to associate yourself during the summer
a little bit. But what was that like of kind
of like integrating yourself into It's a new practice facility,
(14:48):
not the one that you had when you were here
as a player. That's for damn sure, new coaching staff
that you're working around, new president of basketball operations, new players.
So what was that experience of kind of like diving in.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
It was welcome. I think the thing that Joe did,
all the things that he was weakend. He added to
a staff that I had a great relationship with, plans,
understood how the players function on and off the court.
You know, he needed me to help him with that
aspect of it. Now, Charlslee added something else. D Mac
(15:24):
added something else, Tony added something else. Guy's behind the
bench added something else.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So Joe looks like everyone's complimenting each other.
Speaker 5 (15:31):
Call him in each other and compliment him, you know,
just compliment in him. And he's he's been phenomenal to
work with. Like I said, a lot of people in
the public eye don't understand and don't know him because
he's not a household NBA name. He didn't grow up
twenty years in this business. But he's a magnificent coach.
(15:53):
But he's a magnificent person, better person than coaching. Why
do you say that I treat people his relationship with
everyone on the staff. I think every morning Joe walks
in this building and and diversity trying to speak to
everybody that's in this building.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
And you don't get that.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
A lot of places that the head coach walks around
and say hello to everyone.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
He's done a really good job actually coming to the
Downtown office and being a part of our staff meetings.
You were at the Partner Ctare the summit off the
season last year, like you were there, he was there.
He's done a really good job of kind of integrating
himself into the whole organization.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Not just don't know everybody that works for the Celtics,
but he has touched everyone for the Celtics.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I guarantee you that.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You said that you understand the players. Can you kind
of elaborate on that a little bit?
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Understanding plans? And people think that players only life is
on the basketball court. You know, players have lost off
the court too, and sometimes can sometimes can affect you
performance on the.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Court, you know.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
And I been because they're human.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
They're human. People think that.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
People forget that.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
I think that, like we had a bad game against
Atlanta Hawks and and people think that can't happen.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
It can't happen, people, it can't happen.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
No one has a bit Like tell me a person
that has a job that don't have a bad moment
at that job that they off just totally off I
like the media. If they don't like that, I like
the meeting, so they give me the I want to
meet him to get that recipe. We had a bad night,
and the thing that Joe does, we move forward. We
(17:44):
understand why we we faced the problem, why that night happened.
We face it and you know, he gets on us
as the staff, and he gets on the plass as players,
and we just get through it. We get the best
thing about He gets over things fast. He gets sold
things fast. Now the special it ain't fast to me
(18:05):
is a couple of hours. It might take him a
night in him sitting down praying on it, but he's
gonna get over get over it. The next day is
like okay, that's you know, the new day. Let's get
better like the day we have practice. We got better today.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Fans, can you listen to this of like moving on
from maybe a bad night that happens every now and then.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Let's not get caught up in half is people, it happened.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
No one's perfect.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
We just want to be the strongest, the longest.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Love that's matter.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Love it damn.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
From the moment you got here, though, you went straight
to work with Jason Tatum, did you ask for that
or is that something that Joe wanted you to do?
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Just No, I asked what I wanted it and Joe
gave it to me. And the thing that people don't
understand about Jason Tatum, he's a very very coachable guy.
He you know, like he allowed me to coach him
hard and sometimes I had some hard conversations with him.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
So I knew that he wanted to be a champion.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
You know, you share any of those No, not not necessarily, like,
but I can't.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
Well, there's some things we spoke about that some things
that I needed him to do better on the basketball court,
and he actually tries to do it. You know, some
things we work on in practice, he actually try to
get it done. And that's the comment to him. Because Tatum,
let's not good at twisting. He's one of the top
five players.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
In the world and we are seeing that this season
in the world top five.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
He's three times first team, might be three times in
a row. So you don't get no better than that
for a guy like that. But he allowed me to
coach them. I have worked with some great players I
work with. I played with Kamagne, when I played with
the Kima lodger On. I coached Joelenbi when he was
the MVP. I coached the lists, so I say, I
(19:55):
see success. I know how success looks.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I know.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
And he allowed me to voiced my opinion towards him
about his game.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Now.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
He had to because he was the first team All
Pro before I got here, you know. And I just
told it con change that you have to do A,
B and.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
C and and big ups to them. He did it.
He did it.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
He allowed me to coach him hard. Sometimes I get
frustrated with him. And then I watched the film. I said,
it wasn't that bad.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
So I never.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
Because but you also know what he's capable of, and
so you want him to reach that.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
I never go off my emotions right after the game,
so I said, let me watch the film. Even though
he might have some bad moments in the games. I
never was like like god, damn it this and that.
I said, let me watch the film. Did I watch it?
Then I said, Okay, it wasn't that bad, but let's
work on this, A, B and C. And I short
to him. He listened to it. He like, let's get
(20:53):
the work.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Did you expect that when you walked in the door.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Yes, yes, yes, because I you know, the league is
a small lead, it's a big league, is a small league.
And everybody that has worked with Jason told me that, man,
you go love working with the kid.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Interesting.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
He's gonna work hard, he's he's good and if you
put your little bit of your your tough mentality, not
giving a damn mentality towards him, he'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
As they say, what reputation proceeds just myself, that's right,
that's right.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
How much of it with him is mentality? And you
want him to have that killer instinct.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
He has it, he has it, he has it, but
we have we have a good team that he don't
have to do everything.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
And the thing that.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
Thirty plus he have thirty plus points give me for last,
so people don't give him credit to sacrificing. He's dead,
gets getting drew holiday. He gave up seven shots to night. Yeah,
seven shots to night. And this league a lot of
points and a lot of guys don't want to give
us seven shots some night. So you know I call
them and him all the time for that. That okay,
(22:00):
if we're playing pick more basketball and they switched a
small guy on pazingis he's unselfish enough to gifting the
ball and that goes a lot, says a lot about
him as a basketball player.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
That he's growing and he's still twenty.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
It's crazy.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
How do you coach court vision because it's obviously something
that is innate to you. How do you communicate that
but then also teach it to someone who's bigger than
you and can see over have to wear any glass.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
We're getting sponsors lefton right, So.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
He has it.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
He has the vision, you know. We call it scanning
around here. He has the ability to scan, make the
right decision, to make the right reads. He just gotta
just go do it. Also, we don't want him to
be unaggressive. We want him to be at tack moo
every time you get the ball. But being in at
tackmo sometimes sometimes called for a past it does a
(23:10):
great job for that. So I have no problem. Our
team has no problem Jason Tatum, you know, passing the ball,
scoring the ball. We just want him to be Jason Tatum.
That's all. He's ours. We love having him. He's a
big part of this whole Boston Celtics franchise him. JB KP, Drew, Holiday,
(23:31):
de White, Peyton. You know we're a team. This is
the team. You know, our coaching staff were a team.
We have a great time together, but we work hard,
work extremely hard.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
People don't know how much time goes in with the
coaching staff behind those doors.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Oh my gosh, ours.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Right now, Joe with Jason Tatum right now, watch the
film right now, you know, so.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
That someone had to put together who spent two hours
watching the game from multiple angles and then we.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
All watched the same game but seeing differently, you know.
And that's the thing that Joe always allows us to do.
Like you talked to him today, Sam, you coached you
coach team today, d Mac you coaching so we all
get a chance to coach you. And the good thing
about him, he accepts it. And that's the key. That's interesting,
that's the key.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
What wait, what is your favorite thing that Joe's put
up in a film? Sessions?
Speaker 6 (24:20):
So many we've heard some crazy things, I know, That's
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
I don't know too many things about soccer.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
I don't know too much because I don't know too
much about soccer, and he loves soccer. You know, he
might put a soccer match on and I'm watching it
like I see the ball, the goal. I don't know
the positions small forward, forward, I don't know any positions
in soccer.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
And every day he tried to teach me. I didn't
know they had plays in soccer.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
Yeah, actually got plays.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I don't know. I have no idea, no clue about soccer.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
That's because you're an NBA lifer.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
Got about soccer, a little about tennis, football, SOCCA. Going
up with Baltimore, we only have too many soccer fields and.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
It was all ball, all ball.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Listen, We've we've talked a lot about Joe and someday
you're going to be Joe. I know that you've got
aspirations to be a head coach. You've interviewed for head
coaching jobs.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
We have heard it.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I mean people are calling in the media for Sam
Cassell needs a head coaching job.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
When is that going to happen?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
And why do you have aspirations to reach that level
and being able to make an imprint on an organization
with you leading the way.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
I'm not going to do it. I had enough training,
I'm ready. I just need the opportunity, an opportunity to come.
No for a fact, I'll be a good head coach.
I understand people, understand how organization supposed to work, Understand
how organizations supposed to look. I understand who I need
(26:00):
to help me. I can't do it by myself. I
understand the caliber people I need to be a successful
head coach.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I mean, you win for championships, you kind of understand.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
I say, I just need opportunity to come. It come,
and when it comes, I'm going around with it like Joe.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Right now, there's no fact or that, there's no questioning
that it's going to win on But you are the
guys who you have served as an assistant for. What
will you take from each of those guys and kind
of implement to your coaching style When I mean, I
know you've already got your coaching style, but as a
head coach, whenever that day does come, what will you
take from the well?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
The game is so different right now. When I first
came to league, because we could do a whole podcast
just the coaches, was like.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Shoot around every morning practice for three hours.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
It was like that.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
And now the game is so different because the game
has changed. The game has changed for the betterment of
the game. Of basketball. I wish I could play in
this right now.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Do you think you'd be Yeah, you didn't shoot the three.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Though, sad it was awesome.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
I could shoot it if I had the opportunity to
shoot when I wanted to shoot the basketball. But the
game has suspended and it's a great basketball game right now.
So just me finding the right pieces to put in
place make me better, and I think my staff would
make me better, and I make my staff better, So
(27:36):
that's the key.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Well, I can't I know, you can't wait for that data.
We can't wait for that day to come. Everyone who
you've coached can't wait for it. They know that it's
supposed to come, and it's going to happen. It's just
a matter of when and where.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
He's ready.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, I mean four titles, already hoping for a fifth
this year, and something tells me that that common thread
that we talked about earlier, you're going to bring it
to whatever organization you wind up with.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
We're looking forward to it. Hey, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
We appreciate the time, and uh.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Good luck to try to get a number five. You're
getting you're getting pretty close to having, like the Bill
Russell Photo with all all the rings.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
That would be awesome, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
We got to get a fifth and you got a
whole hand.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
That'd be awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
All right, thank you, Sam MHM
Host
Marc D'Amico
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