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Celtics and Brad Stevens did what they had to do by trading Jaylen Brown to Philly It is unquestionably a move that works in the Sixers favor.
But that doesnt mean it wont work out that way for the Celtics, too.
Brad Stevens says he would rather have not traded Jaylen Brown to Philly, but the Celtics did what they had to do It is unquestionably a move that works in the Sixers favor.
But that doesnt mean it wont work out that way for the Celtics, too.
Brad Stevens , who coached Jaylen Brown for five seasons in Boston, said it was difficult to trade his former star to Philly.
It wasnt the first time Brad Stevens had heard the question.
His story piques a natural curiosity.A man widely regarded as one of the worlds finest basketball coaches walked away from one of the worlds finest basketball coaching jobs at 44 years old.
He did so in order to become a suit.
Over the last five years, plenty of people have wondered aloud to the Celtics president of basketball operations.I did this week, Stevens said on Monday, recounting a conversation he had with an interrogator last week.
This is not for the faint of heart.
The Sixers just turned Paul George into Jaylen Brown and transformed themselves for an unbelievable price Stevens news conference alongside Celtics majority owner Bill Chisholm earlier this week offered the world its first chance to inform its opinion on a trade that stunned the NBA like few before it.While the Sixers have yet to announce a time when they will field questions about their blockbuster acquisition of Boston superstarRarely does an NBA team encounter such a universal and vociferous disagreement with a trade as the Celtics did to their decision to trade Brown to the Sixers forand a couple of first- and second- round picks.
Here in Philly, the jubilation surrounding such a no-brainer decision was further enhanced by the opportunity to watch Bostonians engage in a collective public meltdown unlike any it has staged since at least the Revolutionary War era.One local radio host called it the worst trade in Celtics history.
Another said he felt physically ill.
Bill Simmons said he woke up from a colonoscopy and assumed hed died.
Get David Murphys clear-eyed analysis and fresh perspective on the biggest stories in Philly sports.Im with you, Stevens said.
That is a hard thing to trade a guy that you first of all care so much about and secondly have so much respect and admiration for, to a team that just beat you in the playoffs and that youre literally going to play six times before the playoffs next year, with our two preseason games.But I do think that ultimately when you do a deal you need to think about you first and the optionality it creates for you.
If Im being honest, if that exact deal came from a team out west and you were comparing the two, then youd probably take the team out west.
But thats not the way it was working.
Whatever the immediate local reaction to Stevens defense of the decision, he and Chisholm offered a master class in how to handle blowback.
You do it directly, immediately, and humbly.
It helps when you believe in your decision-making process, which the Celtics clearly did.
And, look, they were right to feel that way.Because, chances are, this ends up being a good decision for them.
Thats not the same as saying that the Sixers will regret their decision to trade for Brown.
Nor is it the same as saying that the Celtics won the deal.
None of those things are exclusive from one another.There is a scenario where the Celtics and Sixers both did what was best for them, and that the price was perfectly fair.
Granted, things rarely align on all three of those fronts.
But this is one of those deals where both sides made the most rational decision and where the market dictated the terms.A lot of the criticism currently being aimed at the Celtics would be better off targeted at the 28 general managers who either couldnt or wouldnt beat the Sixers offer for Brown.
If anything, the market was the irrational actor.
From the Sixers perspective, the argument remains largely as it did in the immediate wake of the deal.More than practically any other player in the NBA, Brown is one who at least renders believable the idea that the Sixers can contend for a championship over the next two years, given both their smallish backcourt ofand their preexisting financial condition.
Browns size, athleticism, explosiveness and shotmaking are a much better fit at about $60 million over three years than George was for essentially the same AAV over two years.That, at the very least, means the Sixers will be doing something other than treading water and praying for a miracle for the duration ofThe Celtics were not bound by those constraints.
Their desire to remain that way sits at the heart of the decision to trade Brown.
Keeping his contract on their books could easily have led them to a fiscal and competitive cliff.
A lot of the criticism of the Celtics seems to underestimate this reality.The criticism doesnt account for the idea that Payton Pritchard is worth the entire amount of the four-year, $100 million extension he is eligible to sign.
Over the last two seasons, seven guards in the NBA have a .600-plus true shooting percentage while attempting at least 20 shots per 100 possessions.
Those seven are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Austin Reaves, Jamal Murray, Anthony Edwards, Luka Doncic, Desmond Bane, and ..
Pritchard.The criticism doesnt account for the contract that former second-round pick Jordan Walsh could command as a free agent next summer.
It doesnt account for Hugo Gonzalez potentially hitting his option year at the same time Pritchards current deal is expiring.
The Celtics could have made it work for the next couple of years, sure.
But they wouldnt be able to do it the two years after that.The teams that lose sight of those years are the ones who end up where the Sixers were.
The criticism of the Celtics also seems to under-assess the Celtics return.
The 2028 draft pick they acquired is hugely valuable given the probability that it ends up as a maximum-odds lottery pick and the time-value aspect of its relative immediacy.
The 2031 unprotected pick will be perfectly timed on a number of levels.I dont have room to show you all of the work.
But you should at least be able to accept the fact that a basketball mind as astute as Stevens and an organization as accomplished as the Celtics have done the work.
In a weird way, all of the factors that have generated such outrage are also evidence of how strongly the Celtics believed in their decision.Few teams have the stones to trade a player at the peak of his value.
The Celtics skids were greased by Browns eligibility for a contract extension.
More often than not, the word No is a first domino.They convinced me this was the best way for us to win, and I got there, I did, but it was hard, Chisholm said.
It was really hard.
And I recognize this is a big, big move.
It is unquestionably a move that works in the Sixers favor.But that doesnt mean it wont work out for the Celtics, too.