On Sunday and Monday nights, Celtics followers have been handled to a crisp back-to-back of video games ending within the complete embarrassment of a wildly inferior opponent. The primary of which noticed the Wizards—who’ve gained fewer video games at their house Capital One Area this season than the NC State Wolfpack did on their technique to win the ACC Event—trot out a squad of gamers so horrible that the Celtics in all probability might have rested half their group and are available away with a cushty victory.
Oh wait, they did try this! Celtics mainstays Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis all sat out with smiles plastered on their faces as Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser mixed for 60 factors in entrance of a “Wizards” crowd that gave the previous MVP chants and the latter a standing ovation.
After presumably the least irritating street recreation of his profession, Tatum was requested about his resolution to go well with up in such a lopsided affair, even whereas on the harm report with a left ankle impingement.
“I don’t like to take a seat out,” Tatum stated, matter-of-factly.
He elaborated additional, acknowledging that he would sit if actually injured whereas additionally emphasizing how he takes delight in suiting up for the followers that don his #0 and are available to see him hoop. He simply likes to play basketball, and doesn’t take without any consideration that his bodily prime solely consists of so many video games.
Nevertheless, on the second night time of a back-to-back, Tatum conceivably yielded to the desires of Celtics coaching employees and sat the second recreation, with Porzingis, White, and Brown returning to unceremoniously dispatch of the Pistons. All in two days’ work.
Picture by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE through Getty Pictures
Resting journey back-to-backs isn’t something revolutionary, however when taken together with his feedback after the Wizards recreation, Tatum is unknowingly offering a launchpad to debate one of many silliest subjects within the burnt stir-fry of NBA discourse: famous person harm danger.
I’m going to get the housekeeping out of the best way earlier than we do any enjoyable stuff. Sure, loads of stars miss video games with precise accidents, however the league oversight on what constitutes an “harm” is positively horrendous. Until the league intends to usurp particular person groups’ personnel choices, a star participant can miss any recreation they need with left thumb soreness and name it a day.
Tatum’s “left ankle impingement” that sidelined him for the Pistons recreation might be actual, however hasn’t appeared too critical as he places collectively probably his third consecutive All-NBA First Workforce-level marketing campaign.
As a substitute, let’s deal with actual accidents in the intervening time. Save for a number of very particular outliers, accidents are both freak accidents or the results of long run pressure on a specific physique half. Joel Embiid tore his meniscus when Jonathan Kuminga dolphin dove on prime of it, however nobody noticed that coming till it occurred. Kristaps Porzingis’ left knee, however, has been a problem for the reason that late 2010s and can proceed to be going ahead contemplating the near-decade of wear and tear and tear it’s endured.
Tatum has been one of the crucial sturdy gamers within the league ever since he was drafted. He’s began in each single playoff recreation the Celtics have performed in since he confirmed up, and continues to place collectively marathon seasons whereas taking little or no day off, even main the NBA in complete scoring final common season.
However no participant seven years deep is with out battle scars. Tatum performed by way of {a partially} fractured wrist within the 2022 NBA Finals, and has managed this left ankle concern all season, although it’s a kind of accidents that you simply start to query the validity of when he performs by way of it consistently.
The Celtics are staring down an ungainly stretch of seven-to-nine-ish video games the place they’re more likely to have mathematically clinched the primary seed within the Japanese Convention. Video games will then turn out to be actually meaningless till the playoffs start, and we are going to all rightly marvel if the Celtics stars—Tatum foremost amongst them—ought to really be enjoying in these video games.
Reply primary is oh-my-god-no-absolutely-not-why-would-you-even-suggest-such-a-thing-wrap-the-entire-team-in-bubble-wrap-until-mid-April-and-maybe-just-keep-Porzingis-in-bubble-wrap-just-to-be-safe. If that’s you, I really feel you.
Fully meaningless video games are a real rarity within the NBA, with most groups having just one or two annually and playoff seeding gridlocks within the closing few days of the season. The 2023-2024 Celtics—who, on paper, are beginning to appear like one of the crucial dominant common season groups ever—might have as many as twelve meaningless video games if the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers lose their subsequent three video games and the Celtics win all three.
More likely is the seven-to-nineish vary, however even the opportunity of clinching the one seed with 12 video games remaining speaks how badly the Celtics have bludgeoned the Japanese Convention for the higher a part of 5 months.
Picture by Stephen Gosling/NBAE through Getty Pictures
A pure intuition, then, is the Bubble Wrap Response. It feels insane to place anybody within the Celtics potential playoff rotation vulnerable to a Kuminga-Embiid state of affairs when they’re fairly actually enjoying for nothing. Nor would the Celtics need their guys to build up any extra miles earlier than a brutal two-month playoff run that may take a look at each ounce of resolve this group has within the canister.
Fast factual interlude: I do not know what the legality of doing that may really be, as whereas gamers are allowed to “relaxation” non-nationally televised video games, I’m not precisely certain what that NBA would do if the Celtics trotted out Svi Mykhailiuk and Oshae Brissett for 47 minutes each recreation for 2 and a half weeks.
Even so, I don’t assume the Celtics would—and even ought to—do that, as they wish to keep heat for the playoffs and never begin a mini trip when the entire group is about to go zero darkish thirty. They’d in all probability ease up fairly onerous, however Tatum’s feedback lead one to consider he would wish to play no matter playoff standing. Ought to he?
From the NBA’s perspective, Tatum’s mindset is stable gold, and has nearly actually come up in numerous NBA-TV community negotiations over the following media rights deal. Right here’s how I think about these conversations went.
“Look! Look right here ESPN and TNT, wonderful TV networks poised to pay us billions of {dollars} over the following decade for unique rights to air our video games,” stated the NBA to the TV networks. “Have a look at the meritorious Jayson Tatum, proclaiming his intention to play in all video games—meaningless, lopsided, or in any other case—for the love of the sport! What great stars we have now on this league, don’t you assume?”
The TV networks would retort that, sure—whereas Tatum is a splendidly marketable participant who thinks load administration is a swear phrase—the remainder of the league’s superstars assume very in a different way. Joel Embiid, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, these guys have been lacking video games with minor accidents for years on finish, and Tatum’s mindset is actually the outlier. However these three guys even have not-winning-anything-all-that-recently on their timesheets, whereas sturdiness tanks like Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo run the league.
The preservation of a killer intuition is one of the best argument for the Celtics’ stars persevering with to play by way of abject meaninglessness, although such a nebulous idea is unlikely to carry up within the court docket of public opinion ought to Jaylen Brown break his hand on a dunk sitting 14 video games away from the Bucks with 10 video games remaining. Don’t fear, I’ve already knocked on wooden.
Additionally, these guys are professionals who play basketball for a residing. In the event that they wish to play as a result of it’s their love and keenness to take action, no person ought to inform them they will’t. Everybody understands their very own means of getting amped for the playoffs, and if to Tatum which means enjoying in 79 of the Celtics’ 82 video games? So be it.
The issue with determining the risk-reward of vital Celtics enjoying out the ultimate video games is the full irrelevance of the phrases “danger” and “reward” to the state of affairs. The danger is similar because it at all times is, except you’re a conspiracy theorist alleging {that a} rival group might go full Tonya Harding on one of many Celtics’ stars. Through which case… yeah. Yeah.
It’s not possible to know if or when a man will get injured, so most “evaluation” of groups’ choices with enjoying time and cargo administration comes ex publish facto, enjoying the outcomes and taking victory laps. There’s a cause ex publish facto legal guidelines are prohibited by the US Structure: they’re silly.
On the finish of the day, guys ought to play in the event that they really feel they will and sit in the event that they really feel they should. It’s not going to make a catastrophic harm suck any much less or extra, so let the fellows hoop if that’s what they wish to do. Excuse me whereas I’m going knock on some extra wooden.
