BOSTON — Brad Stevens has taken countless press conferences, for many years on an almost-nightly basis as a head coach, and more recently, as the Celtics’ President of Basketball Operations.
Still, sitting at the Auerbach Center podium late Monday afternoon, he was faced with perhaps his most difficult press conference yet.
The stunning trade that made Jaylen Brown a Philadelphia 76er was not even official for three hours when Stevens took the podium alongside team owner Bill Chisholm, in order to answer 45 minutes of grueling questions from the local Boston press corps.
Was this a cost-cutting move?
Did swapping in Paul George for Jaylen Brown actually make this team better?
How do you explain this to the angry fans?
What do you say to a disrespected Jaylen?
From the get-go, Stevens looked and sounded like a man who, understandably, was balancing several competing and sensitive objectives.
He had an obvious desire — perhaps even a mandate — to be complimentary to Brown, a franchise legend, an all-time great who helped deliver Banner 18 to the Celtics a mere two summers ago.
“When Jaylen came here as a 19-year-old, we knew that he had a lot of talent and a lot of ability to impact people in a lot of different ways,” Stevens said in his opening statement. “And he certainly did that by inspiring people with his play, but I think maybe more so — and the thing that certainly always impressed me even more — was taking on the responsibility of being a great Boston athlete in the community. He talked all the time about his admiration for Bill Russell, and all that he meant in the community, and Jaylen has done an amazing job.”
He had a responsibility to empathize with the outraged Celtics fans who have been trying to make sense of a shocking deal that sent a beloved, homegrown star to a division rival for a far less impressive return than most expected.
“I’ve lost sleep over the ‘fan’ part of this,” Stevens said. “I get it. Like, there’s a bunch of 7 jerseys around. I’m pretty sure I bought a couple, so I get it.”
And, he tried his very best to be truthful and shine light on just some of the factors that played into the wildly unpopular decision, be it Brown’s unfavorable advanced analytics, the challenges of balancing two supermax contracts, Brown’s high usage; the list goes on.
Stevens admitted that advanced analytics played a role in his decision-making, albeit a limited one: “I would say that was a small piece of information.”
And, he acknowledged that it’s just not viable to have two supermax players long-term: “We may not be sitting here if there was a rule in the CBA that said, ‘The guys that you drafted that you signed for 35% supermaxes count as 25% of the cap, because then that would allow you to build out towards the aprons with a lot less flexibility, or with a lot more flexibility.”
Stevens answered each and every question thoroughly, looking reporters in the eye, calling them by their first name, never getting even a tad bit defensive.
Chisholm, who is far less experienced, occasionally chimed in to fortify the message, nervously fidgeting at times, but nonetheless picking his words carefully.
The duo undoutebdly handled what could have been a disastrous presser well. How much that actually matters to Celtics fans remains to be seen.
In my view, there were four notable moments.
1. Bill Chisholm made clear that the idea to trade Jaylen Brown did not stem from him.
“Brad and his team came with a recommendation, this is the way we’re gonna win,” Chisholm said. “And I looked at it, and I had the same reaction, I was like, ‘Wow.‘ This is the fan in me — like, really tough.”
He also made clear this was not a cost-cutting move.
“I know there’s people who feel like, ‘Oh, there must be a smoking gun somewhere on the money,’ but that’s just not what this is about,” Chisholm said. “And I can say it, and I’ll keep saying it, but I’ll also prove it to you when the time comes. When we have the opportunity, we’re going to do that. And we’ve given ourselves the flexibility to do it now. So, it’s fine to keep asking the question, because I know we have to prove it, and we will.”
Though Chisholm came into his role at a difficult time, there’s no reason to think he’s been cheaping out — I genuinely believe all of this would have happened if the previous ownership group remained. But, as he acknowledged, only time will tell.
2. Brad Stevens shot down some of the off-court rumors that have surrounded Jaylen Brown’s trade
In the days since Jaylen Brown was traded, rumors have swirled that off-court issues may played a factor. But, Stevens vehemently shot down the notion that Brown was disgruntled with the team, or vice versa, prior to trade talks.
“We all appreciate Jaylen,” Stevens said. “We’ve all enjoyed having Jaylen as a teammate. I think he’s got great relationships from here.”
Did Jayson Tatum want Jaylen Brown gone?
That question has been posited in radio and TV stations across the country, and Stevens laid that one to rest, too.
He reiterated that Tatum, Brown’s teammate of 9 seasons, had no input in the decision to make the trade.
“I have a real hard-and-fast rule,” Stevens said. “I don’t ask other guys about other guys… I won’t put them in that position.”
3. The Celtics wanted to move away from being such a top-heavy team
As part of his opening statement, Brad Stevens shared (unprompted) that he felt like having Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown take up such a large percentage of the salary cap and usage wasn’t putting the Celtics on the best pathway forward.
“The path looked a little bit more challenging with 70% of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players,” Stevens said. “And the reality in this era and in this day and age at the NBA, you could see it obviously, with the last couple of champions and some of the teams that were at the very top of the league, when it was all said and done at the end of this year, is that you have to do a great job and you have to have the optionality to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual. And that’s not an easy thing to do, right? And we get that. And that’s absolutely nothing against Jaylen. If you have Jaylen Brown on your team, you should feature him. You should use all those possessions, and you should approach things that way. But I think the importance of depth, and then obviously we have to continue to work on ways to diversify our attack overall.”
My analysis: There was a time in which having two or three stars was all you needed to be a championship contender in the NBA. Recent history shows that that era has passed, and this trade is, in part, an acknowledgement of that.
4. The Celtics actually think Paul George will be a difference-maker
It’s hard to get fans excited about a soon-to-be 37-year-old player who on one of the NBA’s most unpopular contracts. But, though his availability remains a question mark, the team is excited about what Paul George could bring.
“We like Paul,” Stevens said. “Paul’s a really good player. We’re not very far removed from all sitting in our series against Philadelphia and watching Paul be a guy that could carry you for portions of a quarter or a half, but also play a complementary role on both ends of the floor at the highest of levels. He’s excited to come to Boston. He actually already came in this weekend. And we’re excited to get a chance to work with him.”
My analysis: The word ‘complementary’ here is key. The Celtics believe that Paul George could fit well next season, and fit in well to what the Celtics are doing. George was awesome in the postseason against Boston — he averaged 17.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while shooting 48.9% from the field and 55% from three across seven games. He’s also historically been an elite defender. There’s a world where he really thrives in this role.
Still, the reality is that nothing Brad Stevens said will fully satisfy Celtics fans
Though Stevens handled the press conference as best as he could — perhaps as best as any NBA general manager in the aftermath of such an unpopular trade — no words could provide complete clarity on why this all played out, why it had to happen now, and why the Celtics wouldn’t want to keep Brown coming off of his best season yet.
Perhaps the truth is hurtful to Brown. It was clear from the jump that Stevens did not want to denigrate his character or on-court play, to the point where he even avoided saying he thinks next year’s team will be better than this year’s.
Or, maybe the logic behind the decision to trade Brown is faulty. And, maybe, the decision to trade Brown will age poorly.
Stevens acknowledged that reality, too.
“I might be wrong,” Stevens said. “I’m not going to stand up here and be defensive about that.”
Either way, though Stevens gets a 10 out of 10 on his transparency and willingness to field all the questions, and give fans the answers they deserved, even if it doesn’t actually move the needle on things.
The big question: What did you guys think?
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