Can star Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown become a top ten player in the NBA?
Can star Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown become a top ten player in the NBA?
Can star Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown become a top ten player in the NBA in Jayson Tatum's absence? If so, what would that look like in practice? The Georgia native has an opportunity to helm the Celtics as its focal point while his injured teammate recovers from a torn Achilles tendon next season -- could Brown realistically make the leap into one of the top stars in the league?
The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn recently laid out what he thinks the Cal alum would need to add to his game (and what he would need to remove from it) to get to such a lofty status on an episode of his CLNS Media "The Big Three NBA" podcast with cohost A. Sherrod Blakely.
Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what they had to say about how Brown could elevate his game.
If you enjoy this pod, check out the "How Bout Them Celtics," "First to the Floor," and the many other New England sports podcasts available on the CLNS Media network: https://ytubl.ink/3Ffk
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25 minutes ago
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NBA Finals 2025: How the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'
OKLAHOMA CITY — On the court, Cason Wallace doesn't do anything slow. Seated at a podium at the Thunder's Wednesday media day session ahead of Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals, though, the second-year guard eased off the gas and took a second to think. Wallace, who has blossomed into one of the NBA's best young point-of-attack stoppers, had just fielded a question about guarding Tyrese Haliburton — the Pacers' All-Star and All-NBA point guard. Wallace guarded Haliburton plenty during two regular-season meetings between Oklahoma City and Indiana; he figures to find himself across from Haliburton plenty over the next couple of weeks, too. Advertisement So: What do you do with a problem like Tyrese, the engine of a hard-charging Indiana offense that scored nearly 120 points per 100 possessions in its 12-4 run through the Eastern Conference playoffs? What's Job No. 1 when you're dealing with a quicksilver ball-handler who's a high-volume, high-efficiency shooter capable of popping for 30 in any given game, but who'd much prefer to set the table for his teammates all night to the tune of double-digit assists? What's the first thing your defense looks to take away? Wallace took a beat to consider. Then, with a smile, he decided. 'Everything,' he said. What Wallace's answer lacked in specificity, it made up for in sheer soundness of logic. After all, when you're as all-consumingly excellent as the Thunder's defense is — No. 1 in points allowed per possession during the regular season, No. 1 in the playoffs, one of the stingiest units the league has seen since the ABA-NBA merger — you don't have to choose; you just erase. Specificity is for lesser beings. Can the Thunder slow down Tyrese Haliburton? (Photo by) (William Purnell via Getty Images) 'I go into every matchup the same — just trying to take them out,' Wallace said. 'Just trying to take the ball from them.' Advertisement Wallace and the Thunder defense have been exceptionally good at that. Oklahoma City led the NBA in steals, deflections, loose balls recovered on defense and points scored off of turnovers this season. The Thunder landed two players on the 2024-25 All-Defensive Team — on-ball pitbull Luguentz Dort and do-it-all forward Jalen Williams — and they might not even be the third-best defenders on the court at any given point in a Thunder game, depending on how head coach Mark Daigneault is juggling his lineups and what kind of night Wallace, Alex Caruso and big men Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are having. Their style is suffocation. Their brand is brutality. Their business is stuffing you in a locker and taking your lunch money … and brother, business is booming. 'They're super physical — they're annoying,' Pacers forward Obi Toppin said with a smile during Indiana's media availability. 'But they're young. They're young and they're just in your … mess. Like, I don't want to say S-H, but y'all know what I want to say. They're just in you, the whole game. It's annoying.' [NBA Finals preview: Pacers-Thunder key matchups, schedule, X-factors and prediction] Advertisement The Pacers like to push the ball up the court after makes or misses, hunting leakouts and hit-aheads at every opportunity. When they can't advance the ball with touchdown passes, they just sprint with the dribble, looking to get into their first action as early as possible. Cover that up, and they'll run you through three more before the shot clock's even halfway gone, leveraging center Myles Turner's shooting prowess to spread you out with a true five-out attack — Haliburton's the only member of Indiana's starting five shooting under 40% from 3-point land in the postseason — to create passing angles and driving lanes through which to bury you in buckets. 'It really opens up the floor,' said Holmgren, who knows a thing or two about how powerful it can be for an offense to feature a floor-spacing 7-footer. 'It's not even so much about opening up the floor and being able to attack just the 5 — it comes down to opening up the floor for everybody else to be able to attack as well. [Defending it] really comes down to being able to play solid — kind of defeat the point of attack.' OK, so: Don't let Haliburton or Andrew Nembhard get loose off the dribble. And don't get mismatch-hunted or exploited by versatile Eastern Conference finals MVP Pascal Siakam, whom Daigneault praised Wednesday as 'kind of a matchup problem, quite frankly.' Oh, and don't lose track of the always-relocating Aaron Nesmith, who's become fantastic shooting on the move in addition to being nails from the corners. And make sure you're closing hard on Turner all the way to 25 feet out. And don't get lost in the sauce when the ball starts popping all over the place — which it will, considering Indiana has the second-fastest average touch time in the postseason and throws the second-most passes per game — both well, well above the likes of the Grizzlies, Nuggets and Timberwolves. Advertisement … That's kind of a lot of stuff to not mess up. 'It's one thing to understand what they're doing. It's one thing to understand what you need to do. It's quite another to execute it,' Daigneault said. 'That's what makes them really hard to play against. They pump a 99-miles-an-hour fastball at you. You can prepare all you want for that. When you're in the batter's box, it's different when it's time to hit it.' Especially when the last few pitchers you've seen more consistently sat in the high-80s. 'They're really pushing the ball, playing with pace even in the halfcourt, which is something that has kind of been the opposite ... maybe besides Memphis that we played so far this postseason,' said Thunder super-sub Caruso. 'Memphis did a lot of that — drive-and-kick, play early — where the other teams (Denver and Minnesota) we played [ran] more sets. Just adjusting back to that, and making sure we're ready to run.' Advertisement It's certainly something the Thunder are capable of doing; by a number of pace and possession metrics, Oklahoma City has actually played faster than Indiana in these playoffs, on balance. But simply being ready to run with these Pacers doesn't necessarily mean you're ready for what they're going to do while they're sprinting all over the place — what Turner called Indiana's 'random movement' on offense, which, when combined with Haliburton's tendency toward egalitarian table-setting, makes everybody in navy blue and gold a live threat at all times. 'Every team has their strengths and their weaknesses,' said Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 'They're a very fast team. I think, like, above all, they understand how they're playing, and they're very stubborn in their approach. They kind of grind you with the way they play. … They know their identity and they stick to it, no matter what.' That clarity of vision and purpose, combined with Haliburton's peerless playmaking, Carlisle's tactical acumen and a boatload of talent, helps make these Pacers an incredibly dangerous offensive team, and a complex problem to solve — the kind of challenge that Holmgren has found himself loving to wrestle with in the postseason. Advertisement 'You're also seeing the same team for two weeks, rather than playing a new team every single night,' Holmgren said. 'So you're really able to take a deep dive, get into things, and really try to … it's really like a puzzle. You know, you got to take the time to figure it out.' The first step in solving any puzzle: singling out one piece from the pile and separating it from the rest. So which Pacers piece do the Thunder plan on starting out with? At that, Holmgren paused. 'That puzzle is also a secret, you know?' he said, a grin spreading across his face. 'That's my answer. Sorry. I wish I could give you more of it.' Advertisement Whatever the Thunder's plan of defensive attack, they'll need to be ready to match Indiana's intensity from Thursday's opening tip. Because if the unique brand of offensive pressure that the Pacers apply can make Oklahoma City blink, just once, in one of these first two games — as it did against Milwaukee, Cleveland and New York — then the tenor of a series that all us pundits seem to think we have pegged changes dramatically. 'We know this is a great team. If we were to win a championship, I don't want to win any other way. I don't want to go around or over. I want to go through,' Haliburton said. 'You want to go through the best team, the best challenge. This is the best challenge. This is the best team in the NBA.' And the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove it.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
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NBA Finals 2025: Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'
OKLAHOMA CITY — On the court, Cason Wallace doesn't do anything slow. Seated at a podium at the Thunder's Wednesday media day session ahead of Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals, though, the second-year guard eased off the gas and took a second to think. Wallace, who has blossomed into one of the NBA's best young point-of-attack stoppers, had just fielded a question about guarding Tyrese Haliburton — the Pacers' All-Star and All-NBA point guard. Wallace guarded Haliburton plenty during two regular-season meetings between Oklahoma City and Indiana; he figures to find himself across from Haliburton plenty over the next couple of weeks, too. Advertisement So: What do you do with a problem like Tyrese, the engine of a hard-charging Indiana offense that scored nearly 120 points per 100 possessions in its 12-4 run through the Eastern Conference playoffs? What's Job No. 1 when you're dealing with a quicksilver ball-handler who's a high-volume, high-efficiency shooter capable of popping for 30 in any given game, but who'd much prefer to set the table for his teammates all night to the tune of double-digit assists? What's the first thing your defense looks to take away? Wallace took a beat to consider. Then, with a smile, he decided. 'Everything,' he said. What Wallace's answer lacked in specificity, it made up for in sheer soundness of logic. After all, when you're as all-consumingly excellent as the Thunder's defense is — No. 1 in points allowed per possession during the regular season, No. 1 in the playoffs, one of the stingiest units the league has seen since the ABA-NBA merger — you don't have to choose; you just erase. Specificity is for lesser beings. Can the Thunder slow down Tyrese Haliburton? (Photo by) (William Purnell via Getty Images) 'I go into every matchup the same — just trying to take them out,' Wallace said. 'Just trying to take the ball from them.' Advertisement Wallace and the Thunder defense have been exceptionally good at that. Oklahoma City led the NBA in steals, deflections, loose balls recovered on defense and points scored off of turnovers this season. The Thunder landed two players on the 2024-25 All-Defensive Team — on-ball pitbull Luguentz Dort and do-it-all forward Jalen Williams — and they might not even be the third-best defenders on the court at any given point in a Thunder game, depending on how head coach Mark Daigneault is juggling his lineups and what kind of night Wallace, Alex Caruso and big men Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are having. Their style is suffocation. Their brand is brutality. Their business is stuffing you in a locker and taking your lunch money … and brother, business is booming. 'They're super physical — they're annoying,' Pacers forward Obi Toppin said with a smile during Indiana's media availability. 'But they're young. They're young and they're just in your … mess. Like, I don't want to say S-H, but y'all know what I want to say. They're just in you, the whole game. It's annoying.' [NBA Finals preview: Pacers-Thunder key matchups, schedule, X-factors and prediction] Advertisement The Pacers like to push the ball up the court after makes or misses, hunting leakouts and hit-aheads at every opportunity. When they can't advance the ball with touchdown passes, they just sprint with the dribble, looking to get into their first action as early as possible. Cover that up, and they'll run you through three more before the shot clock's even halfway gone, leveraging center Myles Turner's shooting prowess to spread you out with a true five-out attack — Haliburton's the only member of Indiana's starting five shooting under 40% from 3-point land in the postseason — to create passing angles and driving lanes through which to bury you in buckets. 'It really opens up the floor,' said Holmgren, who knows a thing or two about how powerful it can be for an offense to feature a floor-spacing 7-footer. 'It's not even so much about opening up the floor and being able to attack just the 5 — it comes down to opening up the floor for everybody else to be able to attack as well. [Defending it] really comes down to being able to play solid — kind of defeat the point of attack.' OK, so: Don't let Haliburton or Andrew Nembhard get loose off the dribble. And don't get mismatch-hunted or exploited by versatile Eastern Conference finals MVP Pascal Siakam, whom Daigneault praised Wednesday as 'kind of a matchup problem, quite frankly.' Oh, and don't lose track of the always-relocating Aaron Nesmith, who's become fantastic shooting on the move in addition to being nails from the corners. And make sure you're closing hard on Turner all the way to 25 feet out. And don't get lost in the sauce when the ball starts popping all over the place — which it will, considering Indiana has the second-fastest average touch time in the postseason and throws the second-most passes per game — both well, well above the likes of the Grizzlies, Nuggets and Timberwolves. Advertisement … That's kind of a lot of stuff to not mess up. 'It's one thing to understand what they're doing. It's one thing to understand what you need to do. It's quite another to execute it,' Daigneault said. 'That's what makes them really hard to play against. They pump a 99-miles-an-hour fastball at you. You can prepare all you want for that. When you're in the batter's box, it's different when it's time to hit it.' Especially when the last few pitchers you've seen more consistently sat in the high-80s. 'They're really pushing the ball, playing with pace even in the halfcourt, which is something that has kind of been the opposite ... maybe besides Memphis that we played so far this postseason,' said Thunder super-sub Caruso. 'Memphis did a lot of that — drive-and-kick, play early — where the other teams (Denver and Minnesota) we played [ran] more sets. Just adjusting back to that, and making sure we're ready to run.' Advertisement It's certainly something the Thunder are capable of doing; by a number of pace and possession metrics, Oklahoma City has actually played faster than Indiana in these playoffs, on balance. But simply being ready to run with these Pacers doesn't necessarily mean you're ready for what they're going to do while they're sprinting all over the place — what Turner called Indiana's 'random movement' on offense, which, when combined with Haliburton's tendency toward egalitarian table-setting, makes everybody in navy blue and gold a live threat at all times. 'Every team has their strengths and their weaknesses,' said Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 'They're a very fast team. I think, like, above all, they understand how they're playing, and they're very stubborn in their approach. They kind of grind you with the way they play. … They know their identity and they stick to it, no matter what.' That clarity of vision and purpose, combined with Haliburton's peerless playmaking, Carlisle's tactical acumen and a boatload of talent, helps make these Pacers an incredibly dangerous offensive team, and a complex problem to solve — the kind of challenge that Holmgren has found himself loving to wrestle with in the postseason. Advertisement 'You're also seeing the same team for two weeks, rather than playing a new team every single night,' Holmgren said. 'So you're really able to take a deep dive, get into things, and really try to … it's really like a puzzle. You know, you got to take the time to figure it out.' The first step in solving any puzzle: singling out one piece from the pile and separating it from the rest. So which Pacers piece do the Thunder plan on starting out with? At that, Holmgren paused. 'That puzzle is also a secret, you know?' he said, a grin spreading across his face. 'That's my answer. Sorry. I wish I could give you more of it.' Advertisement Whatever the Thunder's plan of defensive attack, they'll need to be ready to match Indiana's intensity from Thursday's opening tip. Because if the unique brand of offensive pressure that the Pacers apply can make Oklahoma City blink, just once, in one of these first two games — as it did against Milwaukee, Cleveland and New York — then the tenor of a series that all us pundits seem to think we have pegged changes dramatically. 'We know this is a great team. If we were to win a championship, I don't want to win any other way. I don't want to go around or over. I want to go through,' Haliburton said. 'You want to go through the best team, the best challenge. This is the best challenge. This is the best team in the NBA.' And the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove it.
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35 minutes ago
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How Shaq 'flipped the script,' grew fortune and became larger than life after retirement
Shaquille O'Neal towered over three children, leaned down and shared a secret. 'Do you know how I made $900 million?'' he asked in a moment taped three years ago. 'Just by listening to my mommy and daddy. Make sure you listen to your parents.'' Well, boys and girls, it's slightly more complicated than that, even for a 7-foot-1 basketball legend who pulled off this feat: retire from the sport that helped make you rich and famous, then get even more rich and famous. TV commercials. Licensing deals. Other partnerships. O'Neal, 14 years removed from his Hall of Fame career that included four NBA championship rings and three Finals MVPs, seems to be cashing in everywhere. On Wednesday, June 4, Netflix premiered a six-episode docuseries called "Power Moves with Shaquille O'Neal" about the 53-year-old taking over as president of Reebok in 2023. (Shaquille O'Neal's Jersey Legends Productions partnered with Sony Pictures Television on the show.) This week, he will provide commentary during NBA TV's coverage of Game 1 and Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers. 'Shaq's ubiquity today is unmatched and what makes it even more fascinating is that it's post-career,'' Stacy Jones, a marketing expert and CEO of Hollywood Branded, told USA TODAY Sports. 'Most athletes peak in visibility during their prime and Shaq totally flipped that script.'' O'Neal was unavailable for an interview this week, according to his representatives. But his agents, Perry Rogers and Colin Smeeton, help paint a vivid picture of how O'Neal turned his millions in NBA wages into more millions — and became a household name. ANALYSIS: Haters gonna hate, but NBA's 3-point shot is crucial to winning titles ANALYSIS: Unsung heroes? Underrated players who could make a difference in NBA Finals Rogers and Smeeton said before O'Neal retired in 2011 they read professional athletes on average lose 4% of the public's awareness after their playing careers end. 'And that freaked me out,'' Rogers told USA TODAY Sports. Also, O'Neal would be losing steady income — his playing salary that earned him a total of $286 million, according to The trick was figuring out how to generate more money. It was July 2011, a month after O'Neal officially retired, and ESPN and TNT (then known as Turner) were courting him as a potential NBA analyst. Rogers said he wanted to wait for offers from both networks and use them as leverage. Then, O'Neal spoke. 'He goes, 'Perry, you heard the pitches,' ' Rogers recalled. 'On the one hand, Turner just said that they're relationship people, that they don't need me, but they want me. I'm a relationship guy. 'Then you heard (an ESPN executive) say, 'Hey, I'm the most competitive (expletive) in the world. I'll build a whole show around you.' And what that means is if (ESPN) doesn't beat (TNT), I'm going to be taking the full blame. I'm not going to have time to develop. I don't have these reps yet.'' Rogers, who relayed the anecdote to USA TODAY Sports, said he complied with O'Neal's wishes and promptly negotiated a deal with TNT. The network's Emmy-winning "Inside the NBA" studio show proved to be an ideal platform to keep O'Neal visible. He needed time to develop his skills as a TV analyst. He also found the right chemistry working alongside former NBA players Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, and six-time Emmy winner Ernie Johnson. The quartet is headed to ABC/ESPN next season and O'Neal has agreed to a contract extention worth more than $15 million a year, according to Front Office Sports. 'One thing that's great about Shaquille is he lets you sort of manage him,'' Smeeton, O'Neal's other agent, told USA TODAY Sports. 'But at the same time, he trusts his instincts, and we certainly trust his instincts.'' OPINION: 'Inside the NBA' with Ernie, Charles, Kenny and Shaq gave us so much more than basketball O'Neal did not treat retirement as an opportunity to take up golf and lounge by the pool. "That's just not the way he's wired,'' Smeeton said. "He's wired for 'OK, I still have this drive that made me one of the best players of all time. Now how am I going to apply that to other parts of my business?' And that was music to our ears.'' Leonard Armato, O'Neal's first agent, played a key role in helping shape the Shaq brand into a lucrative entity before the two parted ways in 2001 for undisclosed reasons. But without Armato and later without his basketball career, the brand kept booming. Rogers and Smeeton, hired by O'Neal after the split with Armato, helped refine the Shaq brand. In 2015, Sports Illustrated published a list of O'Neal's top 50 endorsements. The full list continues to balloon and includes the likes of Carnival Cruise Line, DraftKings, Hershey's, Papa John's and BeatBox Beverages. He also is deeply invested in the food services business, owning more than 30 Big Chicken franchises, which serve some of his childhood favorites. He once owned 155 Five Guys, the burger and fries joint, according to Yahoo Finance. 'Whether during basketball games, NFL games or programming beyond, Shaq has staying power that competes with just about any other celebrity,'' said Tyler Bobin, senior brand analyst at a company that tracks TV and streaming advertising. Rogers and Smeeton have focused on 'the fun business,'' which has led to O'Neal serving as an ambassador of fun in a slew of new TV commercials. Case in point: In his commercials for Carnival Cruise Line, O'Neal plays the role of the company's CFO — "Chief Fun Officer.'' Perhaps their biggest play came a decade ago, when Rogers and Smeeton brokered a deal to sell 51% of the Shaq brand to Authentic Brands Group (ABG). O'Neal, in turn, has become the second-largest shareholder in a company that owns brands for such luminaries as Muhammad Ali, Marilyn Monroe and David Beckham and whose subsidiaries include Champion and Reebok, which ABG acquired in 2022 at the behest of O'Neal. Smeeton indicated the partnership with ABG has helped propel O'Neal toward the $1 billion threshold for lifetime earnings. 'If he's not already there,'' Smeeton said, 'he'll be there soon.' The strength of O'Neal's brand has been tested. By O'Neal himself. During the most recent episode of his podcast, 'The Big Podcast with Shaq,'' O'Neal referred to the infidelities he has said led to divorce from his ex-wife, Shaunie. 'I am the voice for those that made a lot of mistakes and want to recover from the mistakes,'' said O'Neal, who has six children, including four with Shaunie. 'Because I always say, my biggest mistake was ruining my family by being dumb.'' There have been other setbacks for O'Neal. Like two civil lawsuits, one stemming from his endorsement of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and another stemming from involvement with the Astrals Non-Fungible Tokens project, which he settled this year for a total of $11 million. O'Neal and other celebrities were accused of misleading consumers into promoting unregistered securities for FTX and promoting unregistered securities for Astrals. But the Shaq brand has taken no discernible hit. Corporate America keeps lining up to partner with O'Neal, who in 2024 played a hands-on role in developing Shaq-a-Licious XL Gummies (cannabis free) with The Hershey Company. "He gets involved on a deeper level, and brands love that,'' said Jones, the CEO at Hollywood Branded. "His involvement isn't just about exposure, it's about strategic value. He shows up, he promotes and he often contributes behind the scenes. That's a big reason why brands keep coming back.'' O'Neal also has protected his business interests by steering clear of controversial political issues, said Kimberly A. Whitler, associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia. 'That model – to maximize the number of consumers who support and appreciate the celebrity – requires focusing on creating broad appeal,'' Whitler told USA TODAY Sports. 'They do this by remaining largely apolitical, so they can appeal to liberals, independents, and conservative consumers.'' Michael Jordan is the blueprint when it comes to athletes developing brands, Jones said. 'He took his athletic legacy and elevated it into a luxury brand and that quiet, high-end exclusivity plays perfectly into his legacy,'' she said. O'Neal has embraced something else: the common man. New Air Jordan sneakers can cost upwards of $200. O'Neal's branded shoes on are available for $29.95. Rather than attempting to mimic Jordan's luxury brand, O'Neal's Big and Tall Collection is housed at JCPenney, with ribbed Polo shirts available for $17.49. Then there's his deal with The General, the insurance company known for affordable car insurance rates. 'I called Shaquille and said, 'Hey, look, we're talking to these folks. I don't know how you feel about it,' ' Rogers aid. 'And Shaquille goes, 'Do it.' (I said), 'Hold on a second. I haven't talked to you about anything. Why do you like this? 'And he said, 'I had The General for my insurance company. I know what it means to need affordable insurance.' ' Sometimes, with the cameras rolling and without, O'Neal has given away pizzas, shoes, clothes and hugs. He has bought other people vans, engagement rings and heaven only knows what else. In 2024, he received the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award for raising millions of dollars for charitable efforts through the Shaquille O'Neal Foundation. Last month, at the end of the last episode of "Inside the NBA" on TNT, O'Neal told the show's stage manager 'we put our money together and bought you a gift.'' He handed her a Louis Vuitton gift bag. Said Barkley, 'Shaq, in fairness, you should buy all the gifts. You got the most money.'' This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shaq increasing fortune and fame as NBA Finals begin
