WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.180 Okay, I want you to picture the color green. 00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:05.219 And I don't just mean the color of money. Though, 00:00:05.339 --> 00:00:08.199 uh, spoiler alert. We are definitely going to 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:10.660 talk about a boatload of cash today. A literal 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:13.779 boatload. I'm talking about that specific Kelly 00:00:13.779 --> 00:00:16.519 Green. I'm talking about, you know, that leprechaun 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:20.219 lucky and clouds of cigar smoke and that bizarre 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:23.640 floor that makes the ball bounce sideways. You're 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:26.100 talking about the Boston Celtics. We are unpacking 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:28.199 the legacy of the Boston Celtics today. And it 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:30.640 really is the story of the NBA in a lot of ways. 00:00:30.739 --> 00:00:32.399 Yeah. I mean, if you just took the Celtics out 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:34.899 of the history books, the league would look completely 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:37.399 different. Oh, completely. talking about a franchise 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:41.229 that as of 2024, finally broke that tie with 00:00:41.229 --> 00:00:43.509 the Lakers. Stood alone with 18 championships. 00:00:43.670 --> 00:00:45.549 They've got more wins than any other team in 00:00:45.549 --> 00:00:49.149 history. It's a resume that, frankly, reads like 00:00:49.149 --> 00:00:51.350 fiction. It does. But here's the thing that really 00:00:51.350 --> 00:00:53.590 grabbed me and why we're doing this deep dive 00:00:53.590 --> 00:00:57.049 right now. It's not just the trophies. It's the 00:00:57.049 --> 00:00:59.469 valuation. We're recording this looking back 00:00:59.469 --> 00:01:01.969 at May of 2025, which feels like just yesterday, 00:01:02.070 --> 00:01:04.890 when the team was sold to William Chisholm and 00:01:04.890 --> 00:01:08.489 his private equity group. For 6 .1. billion dollars 00:01:08.489 --> 00:01:13.799 6 .1 billion with a b I tried to visualize that 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:15.879 amount of money earlier today and I just. I got 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:18.000 a headache. It's a staggering number. And at 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.400 the moment the Inc. tried, it was the highest 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.359 price ever paid for a North American sports franchise. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:25.659 Right. Now, we know the market is just insane 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:28.200 because the Lakers sold a majority stake later 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:30.900 in 2025 that valued them at 10 billion. But that 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:33.599 6 .1 for the Celtics is the watershed moment. 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:36.420 Yeah. It forces the question, how? How do you 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:39.640 go from, you know, a startup in 1946 playing 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:43.319 in dusty, smoke -filled gyms. to a $6 billion 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:46.620 global asset. That is the mission today. We are 00:01:46.620 --> 00:01:49.079 going to trace that line from the Red Auerbach 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:51.739 era through the tragedies of the 90s, the Big 00:01:51.739 --> 00:01:53.459 Three resurgence, and then, of course, the modern 00:01:53.459 --> 00:01:55.200 Jays era. That's quite right. But we have to 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.780 start at the beginning. 1946, the Basketball 00:01:57.780 --> 00:02:00.579 Association of America forms. Boston gets a team. 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:04.739 And were they an instant hit? Far from it. They 00:02:04.739 --> 00:02:06.959 were terrible. The team was founded by Walter 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:09.659 Brown. who ran the Boston Garden. They were losing 00:02:09.659 --> 00:02:12.919 money, losing games. The real turning point didn't 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:15.900 happen until 1950, when they hired a guy named 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:18.319 Red Auerbach. The man who would eventually have 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:20.919 a cigar permanently glued to his hand? That's 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:22.680 the one. But you have to understand the context 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:25.419 of the NBA in the 50s. I mean, there were no 00:02:25.419 --> 00:02:28.099 massive front offices, no analytics departments. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:31.439 Right. Red Auerbach was the coach, the general 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:35.060 manager, the scout. He was practically the travel 00:02:35.060 --> 00:02:37.840 agent. He was the entire operation. And he was, 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:41.500 let's say, a creative negotiator. I found a story 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:43.520 in the research that I actually didn't believe 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:45.000 it at first. It sounds like something from a 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:46.340 movie. Oh, I think I know where you're going 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:49.259 with this. It's 1956. The Celtics are desperate 00:02:49.259 --> 00:02:52.099 to draft Bill Russell. Russell was the ultimate 00:02:52.099 --> 00:02:54.599 prize. Coming out of the University of San Francisco, 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:58.719 he had two NCAA titles. Olympic gold medal. Everyone 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:01.479 knew he was an admitted genius. But the Celtics 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:03.520 don't have the number one pick. The Rochester 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.939 Royals do. So logic says the Royals take Russell. 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:10.280 Auerbach needs them to pass on him. So he can 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:12.800 trade for the number two pick and grab him. But 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:15.979 why on earth would Rochester pass on Bill Russell? 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:18.219 This is one of my favorite stories in sports 00:03:18.219 --> 00:03:20.539 business history. It's amazing. Okay, so the 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:22.699 owner of the Celtics, Walter Brown, he had a 00:03:22.699 --> 00:03:25.520 side hustle. He ran the Ice Capades. The traveling 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.479 ice skating show. which was huge entertainment 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:31.439 back then. I mean, no internet, no cable TV. 00:03:31.939 --> 00:03:34.699 People went to the ice show. Exactly. And the 00:03:34.699 --> 00:03:37.479 Rochester Royals owner, Les Harrison, was struggling 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:39.580 financially. He was having trouble filling his 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:42.780 arena. So Auerbach and Brown make him an offer. 00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:45.939 They say, if you promise not to draft Bill Russell, 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:48.800 we will send the ice capades to Rochester for 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.580 a week -long run. Think about that. They didn't 00:03:52.580 --> 00:03:54.990 trade a player. They didn't trade cash. They 00:03:54.990 --> 00:03:57.349 traded a figure skating performance for the rights 00:03:57.349 --> 00:03:59.330 to Bill Russell. It sounds like a front for something. 00:03:59.550 --> 00:04:01.330 Here's some ice skaters. You give me the future 00:04:01.330 --> 00:04:04.370 Hall of Famer. It was the Wild West. But it worked. 00:04:04.909 --> 00:04:07.610 Rochester took Sehugo Green, a decent player, 00:04:07.789 --> 00:04:10.689 but no Russell. And the Celtics traded for the 00:04:10.689 --> 00:04:13.930 number two pick. They drafted Russell. And that 00:04:13.930 --> 00:04:16.209 moment birthed the dynasty. Talk about return 00:04:16.209 --> 00:04:18.990 on investment. But Auerbach wasn't just using 00:04:18.990 --> 00:04:21.870 ice shows to build a team. He was also ignoring 00:04:21.870 --> 00:04:24.829 the unspoken rules of the league regarding race. 00:04:25.050 --> 00:04:27.310 He was. And this is a critical part of the legacy. 00:04:27.550 --> 00:04:31.089 In 1950, Auerbach drafted Chuck Cooper. The first 00:04:31.089 --> 00:04:33.769 black player ever selected by an NBA franchise. 00:04:34.110 --> 00:04:36.129 And Red's philosophy was just brutally simple. 00:04:36.290 --> 00:04:38.589 I don't give a damn if he's striped, plaid, or 00:04:38.589 --> 00:04:41.050 polka dot. Boston takes the player who can win. 00:04:41.189 --> 00:04:44.259 And that wasn't just talk. By 1964, the Celtics 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:46.120 did something that had never been done in U .S. 00:04:46.139 --> 00:04:48.800 pro sports. They fielded the first all African 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:51.259 -American starting lineup. Bill Russell, Satch 00:04:51.259 --> 00:04:54.439 Sanders, Casey Jones, Sam Jones and Willie Knowles. 00:04:54.459 --> 00:04:57.180 Wow. Tom Heinsohn was injured and they just they 00:04:57.180 --> 00:04:59.019 played a significant portion of the season that 00:04:59.019 --> 00:05:00.639 way. And they didn't just break barriers. They 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:02.660 broke the will of every other team. The stats 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:05.720 from that era are just. They're laughable. They're 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:09.639 statistical anomalies. From 1957 to 1969, the 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:12.860 Celtics won 11 championships in 13 years. 11 00:05:12.860 --> 00:05:16.000 in 13. That includes eight in a row. Eight consecutive 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.040 titles. In modern sports, winning two in a row 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.959 is considered a dynasty. They won eight. It just 00:05:21.959 --> 00:05:24.000 breaks your brain when you compare it to today's 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:26.879 league. But Russell wasn't just the anchor on 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:29.500 the court. When Red finally retired from coaching 00:05:29.500 --> 00:05:33.069 in 66, he made another historic move. He named 00:05:33.069 --> 00:05:35.449 Bill Russell as his successor. Player coach. 00:05:35.910 --> 00:05:38.170 Russell became the first black head coach in 00:05:38.170 --> 00:05:40.790 any major U .S. professional sport. And he didn't 00:05:40.790 --> 00:05:43.189 just hold a clipboard? No, he won two more titles 00:05:43.189 --> 00:05:45.730 as the player coach in 68 and 69. So Russell 00:05:45.730 --> 00:05:47.930 retires in 69. And usually when a dynasty like 00:05:47.930 --> 00:05:51.009 that ends, the team just falls off a cliff for 00:05:51.009 --> 00:05:54.040 20 years. But then the Celtics. They didn't. 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:55.779 Right. And this is a part of the history I feel 00:05:55.779 --> 00:05:57.800 like people skip over. We always jump from Russell 00:05:57.800 --> 00:05:59.959 straight to Larry Bird, but we need to talk about 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:02.279 the 70s. I'm glad you brought this up. The bridge 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:05.339 era is fascinating because it proved the Celtics 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:08.379 were a system, not just a vehicle for Bill Russell. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:11.339 You had Dave Cowens and John Havlicek leading 00:06:11.339 --> 00:06:14.879 the way. They won titles in 74 and 76. And 1976. 00:06:16.649 --> 00:06:18.730 We have to stop there. The greatest game ever 00:06:18.730 --> 00:06:20.970 played. Game five of the finals against the Phoenix 00:06:20.970 --> 00:06:23.589 Suns. It is widely considered the wildest game 00:06:23.589 --> 00:06:26.209 in NBA history. Triple overtime. Triple overtime. 00:06:26.430 --> 00:06:28.769 The Suns hit a miracle shot at the buzzer of 00:06:28.769 --> 00:06:31.290 the second overtime. Gar Hurd, the shot heard 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:34.149 around the world, to tie it. The fans in Boston 00:06:34.149 --> 00:06:36.269 actually stormed the court thinking the game 00:06:36.269 --> 00:06:38.629 was over. Before it was over. Yeah. The referees 00:06:38.629 --> 00:06:41.500 had to clear the floor. It was total chaos. But 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:42.819 the Celtics pulled it out and won the title. 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:44.839 It just solidified that the winning culture wasn't 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:47.240 a fluke. But by the late 70s, the roster was 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:50.220 aging and the league itself was, you know, in 00:06:50.220 --> 00:06:52.740 trouble. Big trouble. Ratings were down. Cocaine 00:06:52.740 --> 00:06:55.300 was a major issue. The NBA needed the savior. 00:06:56.180 --> 00:06:59.339 And they got two of them. 1979. Larry Bird arrives 00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:02.079 in Boston. Magic Johnson arrives in Los Angeles. 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:05.800 And everything changes. This rivalry. It wasn't 00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:07.660 just basketball, was it? It felt like a culture 00:07:07.660 --> 00:07:10.720 war. Oh, it absolutely was. Yeah. You had the 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:15.319 Showtime Lakers, glitz, glamour, Hollywood, fast 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:18.920 breaks. And then you had the Celtics, blue collar, 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:22.139 physical, half court execution, black sneakers. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:25.000 East Coast versus West Coast. It saved the NBA. 00:07:25.699 --> 00:07:28.980 The viewership skyrocketed. whenever these two 00:07:28.980 --> 00:07:31.420 teams played. And Red Auerbach, who is now the 00:07:31.420 --> 00:07:33.439 general manager, decides he hasn't pulled off 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:35.339 enough heists yet. He needs to build a team around 00:07:35.339 --> 00:07:37.920 Bird. So we get to the 1980 trade. The McHale 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:40.720 trade. This is another masterclass. The Celtics 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.199 held the number one overall pick. Most GMs would 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.980 just draft the best player, go home. Right. Auerbach 00:07:45.980 --> 00:07:47.879 trades the number one pick to the Golden State 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:50.560 Warriors. In exchange, he gets Robert Parrish. 00:07:50.889 --> 00:07:53.329 a center who was unhappy and underutilized in 00:07:53.329 --> 00:07:55.569 Golden State, and the Warriors' number three 00:07:55.569 --> 00:07:57.910 pick. So he trades down, gets a Hall of Fame 00:07:57.910 --> 00:07:59.970 center in Parrish, and then with the third pick. 00:08:00.129 --> 00:08:02.350 He drafts Kevin McHale. So in one afternoon, 00:08:02.490 --> 00:08:05.069 he acquires two -thirds of the greatest front 00:08:05.069 --> 00:08:07.810 court in the history of the game. Exactly. Bird, 00:08:08.110 --> 00:08:11.189 McHale, and Parrish. The original big three, 00:08:11.230 --> 00:08:14.350 they went on to win in 81 -84, and then the masterpiece 00:08:14.350 --> 00:08:17.610 in 1986. That 86 team is the one people still 00:08:17.610 --> 00:08:19.550 talk about. They had Bill Walton coming off the 00:08:19.550 --> 00:08:21.990 bench. A healthy -ish Bill Walton. They went 00:08:21.990 --> 00:08:24.810 40 -1 at home. They were arguably the greatest 00:08:24.810 --> 00:08:26.930 passing team ever assembled. If you watch the 00:08:26.930 --> 00:08:29.209 tape, the ball just never touches the floor. 00:08:29.230 --> 00:08:32.299 It was beautiful. But then... Everything just 00:08:32.299 --> 00:08:34.860 stops. And this is the part of the story that 00:08:34.860 --> 00:08:37.259 turns into a Greek tragedy. We go from the highest 00:08:37.259 --> 00:08:40.679 high in 86 to the lowest low imaginable. The 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:42.480 Len Bias tragedy. This is the moment that just 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.419 it broke the timeline. So they just won the championship. 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:47.879 And somehow they have the number two overall 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:51.139 pick in the draft. They draft Len Bias from Maryland. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:53.159 He was supposed to be the guy to take the torch 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:55.659 from Larry Bird. He was a superstar. I can't 00:08:55.659 --> 00:08:58.120 miss prospect. And less than 48 hours after being 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:01.330 drafted, he died of a cocaine overdose. It's 00:09:01.330 --> 00:09:03.529 devastating on a human level, first and foremost, 00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:05.889 but from a basketball perspective, it just left 00:09:05.889 --> 00:09:08.629 this massive hole. It destroyed their future. 00:09:08.870 --> 00:09:11.769 And then, as if that wasn't enough, in 1993, 00:09:12.230 --> 00:09:14.769 their captain Reggie Lewis collapsed and later 00:09:14.769 --> 00:09:17.370 died of a heart condition. So you lose your future 00:09:17.370 --> 00:09:19.789 ace and your current captain in the span of seven 00:09:19.789 --> 00:09:22.490 years. And that ushered in the dark ages. I grew 00:09:22.490 --> 00:09:25.149 up in this era, and let me tell you, it was bleak. 00:09:25.190 --> 00:09:27.769 The 90s Celtics were not the Celtics of lore. 00:09:28.009 --> 00:09:31.169 They were irrelevant. They bottomed out 96 -97 00:09:31.169 --> 00:09:35.549 with 15 wins and a franchise record 67 losses. 00:09:35.750 --> 00:09:38.370 Yeah. They brought in Wick Pitino to save them, 00:09:38.450 --> 00:09:40.450 thinking his college press system would work. 00:09:40.730 --> 00:09:43.230 Spoiler, it did not. It was a complete disaster. 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:45.809 Dino famously ripped into the fans and press 00:09:45.809 --> 00:09:48.250 yelling, Larry Bird is not walking through that 00:09:48.250 --> 00:09:50.230 door. Kevin McHale is not walking through that 00:09:50.230 --> 00:09:52.669 door. Which was true, but maybe not what the 00:09:52.669 --> 00:09:54.250 fans wanted to hear while they were losing 60 00:09:54.250 --> 00:09:56.850 games. It was a harsh reality check. The Celtics 00:09:56.850 --> 00:10:00.090 mystique was dead. The team was just a bad basketball 00:10:00.090 --> 00:10:03.059 team. So they needed a complete teardown. Enter 00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:06.519 Danny Ainge. It's 2007. The team has been mediocre, 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:09.440 maybe even bad, for almost 20 years. Paul Pierce 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:13.120 is the captain, and he is miserable. He is. He's 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:14.600 playing with guys who wouldn't make a G League 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:18.059 roster today. And Ainge decides to push all his 00:10:18.059 --> 00:10:19.940 chips into the middle of the table. The new big 00:10:19.940 --> 00:10:23.360 three. Yep. He trades for Ray Allen. Then he 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:25.740 trades basically half the roster to get Kevin 00:10:25.740 --> 00:10:27.700 Garnett from Minnesota. It was an instant super 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:32.039 team. They went from 24 wins to 66 wins in one 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:34.539 season. The biggest turnaround in league history. 00:10:34.919 --> 00:10:37.539 And they capped it off by beating the Lakers 00:10:37.539 --> 00:10:40.320 in 2008 for the 17th title. It was validation. 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.320 The franchise wasn't cursed. But here's the thing 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:45.740 about buying a super team. The window is small. 00:10:46.460 --> 00:10:49.019 Garnett and Pierce were already in their 30s. 00:10:49.019 --> 00:10:52.820 By 2013, they were running on fumes. And this 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:55.220 is where Danny Ainge pulls off what I think is 00:10:55.220 --> 00:10:57.519 the greatest heist since the Ice Capades. The 00:10:57.519 --> 00:10:59.940 Brooklyn trade. Oh, yeah. This is the defining 00:10:59.940 --> 00:11:03.019 move of the modern era. In 2013, the Celtics 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:05.059 sent the aging Pierce and Garnett to the Brooklyn 00:11:05.059 --> 00:11:08.100 Nets. The Nets had a new billionaire owner who 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:10.480 wanted to win a title right now and didn't. care 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:12.600 about the cost. So Brooklyn gets the big names. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:14.600 What did Boston get? They got a handful of role 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:17.039 players, but the real assets were the draft picks. 00:11:17.179 --> 00:11:22.440 2014, 2016, 2018, and a pick swap in 2017. But 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:25.679 here's the key detail people miss. The picks 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:28.179 were unprotected. OK, break that down for us. 00:11:28.340 --> 00:11:31.659 Why does unprotected matter so much? Usually 00:11:31.659 --> 00:11:33.919 when a team trades a future pick, they put protections 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.159 on it. They say if this pick ends up being number 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.460 one, two or three, we keep it and you get next 00:11:38.460 --> 00:11:41.019 year's. It's insurance in case this team completely 00:11:41.019 --> 00:11:44.080 collapses. Got it. Ainge convinced the Nets to 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:46.340 remove the insurance. He was essentially shorting 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:50.879 the Nets stock. He bet that by 2016, 2017, Garnett 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:53.110 and Pierce would be gone. The Nets would be terrible 00:11:53.110 --> 00:11:55.590 and those picks would be gold. And he was right. 00:11:55.710 --> 00:11:58.690 The Nets cratered and those draft picks turned 00:11:58.690 --> 00:12:01.250 into. Jalen Brown in 2016 and Jason Tatum in 00:12:01.250 --> 00:12:04.710 2017. The Jays, the foundation of the team that 00:12:04.710 --> 00:12:08.009 just sold for over $6 billion. Incredible asset 00:12:08.009 --> 00:12:10.250 managed it. They skipped the painful rebuilding 00:12:10.250 --> 00:12:12.610 decade that usually follows a championship era. 00:12:12.710 --> 00:12:15.110 They outsourced their tanking to Brooklyn. So 00:12:15.110 --> 00:12:17.230 now we have the Jays. They grow together. They 00:12:17.230 --> 00:12:19.330 make a finals run in 2022 but lose to Golden 00:12:19.330 --> 00:12:23.330 State. And then finally, the 2023 -24 season. 00:12:23.450 --> 00:12:26.409 A dominant march. 64 wins in the regular season. 00:12:26.610 --> 00:12:29.129 They breezed through the playoffs. They beat 00:12:29.129 --> 00:12:32.730 Dallas 4 -1 in the finals. Jalen Brown wins finals 00:12:32.730 --> 00:12:35.610 MVP. And that's banner number 18, the tiebreaker 00:12:35.610 --> 00:12:37.769 with the Lakers. It secured their spot at the 00:12:37.769 --> 00:12:40.809 top of the mountain. But sports moves fast. We're 00:12:40.809 --> 00:12:43.590 sitting here in 2026 looking back at the 24 -25 00:12:43.590 --> 00:12:46.029 season where they won another division title 00:12:46.029 --> 00:12:48.509 but got knocked out by the Knicks in the conference 00:12:48.509 --> 00:12:51.289 semis. Right. Which brings us back to the ownership 00:12:51.289 --> 00:12:54.370 change. The team is sold. And this is where I 00:12:54.370 --> 00:12:55.730 want to get a little technical for a second. 00:12:55.830 --> 00:12:58.529 We keep hearing about the second apron. It sounds 00:12:58.529 --> 00:13:00.350 like kitchenware, but apparently it's terrifying 00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:03.009 for billionaires. What is it? It's the new salary 00:13:03.009 --> 00:13:05.370 cap rule that is, I mean, it's basically designed 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:07.889 to kill dynasties. If you spend over a certain 00:13:07.889 --> 00:13:10.590 amount, the second apron. The league comes down 00:13:10.590 --> 00:13:13.210 hard. How so? You lose your exceptions to sign 00:13:13.210 --> 00:13:15.149 free agents. You can't trade your draft picks 00:13:15.149 --> 00:13:17.330 seven years out. You can't aggregate salaries 00:13:17.330 --> 00:13:19.629 and trades. It basically freezes your roster. 00:13:19.889 --> 00:13:22.230 So in the 60s, Red could just keep paying Bill 00:13:22.230 --> 00:13:24.429 Russell. In the 80s, they could pay Burr and 00:13:24.429 --> 00:13:27.389 McHale. But now, if you pay Tatum and Brown's 00:13:27.389 --> 00:13:29.450 Supermax contracts, you basically can't afford 00:13:29.450 --> 00:13:31.190 anyone else without getting handcuffed by the 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:33.940 league? Precisely. And that's why the valuation 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:37.159 is so interesting. The new owners paid $6 .1 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:40.059 billion for a team that is incredibly expensive 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:42.779 to maintain. They're walking into a situation 00:13:42.779 --> 00:13:44.759 where keeping this championship core together 00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:48.879 for five or six years is mathematically punitive 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:51.259 in a way it never was before. So the question 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:55.379 is, was 2024 a standalone peak? Is the era of 00:13:55.379 --> 00:13:57.620 the dynasty winning three or four rings in a 00:13:57.620 --> 00:14:00.360 decade? Is that even possible anymore? I think 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:02.620 the definition of dynasty has to change. The 00:14:02.620 --> 00:14:05.440 days of winning 11 and 13 years are gone. Impossible. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.200 With the talent spread out and the financial 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:09.659 rules, maybe winning two in five years is the 00:14:09.659 --> 00:14:11.720 new dynasty. Before we wrap up, though, I want 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:13.639 to touch on the one thing that money hasn't changed. 00:14:14.029 --> 00:14:16.529 The vibe. The weird little traditions. The lore. 00:14:16.730 --> 00:14:18.690 Yeah, we talked about the ice capades, but what 00:14:18.690 --> 00:14:20.590 about Lucky the Leprechaun? Did you know Red 00:14:20.590 --> 00:14:23.610 Auerbach's brother designed that logo? Zang Auerbach. 00:14:23.850 --> 00:14:26.309 Yeah, he was a commercial artist. It's such a 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:29.210 mom -and -pop detail for a multi -billion dollar 00:14:29.210 --> 00:14:32.649 brand. And the sneakers. For decades, if you 00:14:32.649 --> 00:14:35.549 played for Boston, you wore black sneakers. Period. 00:14:35.830 --> 00:14:37.950 Red hated white sneakers. He thought they looked 00:14:37.950 --> 00:14:40.610 dirty and unprofessional. Even when Michael Jordan 00:14:40.610 --> 00:14:44.200 was making colorful shoes famous. The Celtics 00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:46.460 looked like they were wearing dress shoes. It 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:49.360 was psychological warfare. We are here to work. 00:14:49.460 --> 00:14:51.950 We aren't here to look pretty. Totally. And the 00:14:51.950 --> 00:14:54.889 parquet floor. It's iconic, but originally it 00:14:54.889 --> 00:14:56.870 was just because of lumber scarcity after World 00:14:56.870 --> 00:14:59.230 War II, right? Correct. They used scrap wood 00:14:59.230 --> 00:15:01.970 to build the floor. And because it was scraps, 00:15:02.210 --> 00:15:04.950 it had dead spots. The ball wouldn't bounce right 00:15:04.950 --> 00:15:07.070 in certain areas. And I assume the Celtics knew 00:15:07.070 --> 00:15:08.750 exactly where those spots were. Oh, absolutely. 00:15:09.029 --> 00:15:11.370 You'd see opposing players dribble into a corner 00:15:11.370 --> 00:15:13.850 and the ball would just die. Brett Auerbach loved 00:15:13.850 --> 00:15:16.049 that. He claimed it was a myth, but he never 00:15:16.049 --> 00:15:18.440 fixed the floor. It's that accumulation of history, 00:15:18.700 --> 00:15:21.620 the floor, the cigars, the banners, that makes 00:15:21.620 --> 00:15:24.440 that $6 .1 billion price tag make a little more 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:26.700 sense. You aren't just buying a basketball team. 00:15:26.860 --> 00:15:29.399 You're buying a mythology. You're buying the 00:15:29.399 --> 00:15:32.299 18 banners. You're buying the ghost of Red Auerbach. 00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:34.899 And you're buying the expectation that Banner 00:15:34.899 --> 00:15:38.059 19 is mandatory. That's the pressure the new 00:15:38.059 --> 00:15:41.059 owners are walking into. Well, whether they win 00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:43.519 another one next year or in another 16 years, 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:46.000 one thing is for sure, the price of admission 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.340 just went up. And hopefully they keep the black 00:15:48.340 --> 00:15:50.980 sneakers. We can only hope. Thanks for diving 00:15:50.980 --> 00:15:52.700 in with us. We'll catch you on the next one.